Heroes of the Desk
by SovereignGFC
Summary: What happens if 'The Indian in the Cupboard' were applied to my 3D printed 14 inch Heroes of the Storm figurines? They could certainly get into trouble, or cause a lot of trouble. Likely both! Will be updated as ideas come, so no set schedule. Not a self-insert either, came up with the idea when chatting with friends but the protagonist is not "me" (or anyone I know).
1. Hold, Please

**Chapter 1 – "Hold, Please…"**

"Hold, please…"

It was a common enough refrain among players of multiplayer online battle arenas, or as Blizzard absolutely insisted on calling their entry in the field, a "Hero Brawler." With matches featuring no pause function, many found that kids needed attention, dogs had to relieve themselves, phones rang, packages arrived, or some other immediate task came up that took them away from the fight. Even with shorter bouts in Heroes of the Storm compared to its contemporaries, interruptions were inevitable.

"If I told them why, they wouldn't believe me…"

3D printing, most commonly fused filament fabrication in the consumer space, allowed the production of many trinkets that would have required expensive injection molding only ten years previously. Many "'90's kids" predictably went nuts with the idea that, as adults, they could _make their own toys_ of all the sorts that simply did not exist during their childhoods. From custom Star Wars vessels to boredom busting puzzles, a competent user could make nearly anything within the constraints of materials and his/her machine.

It was all so innocent. Purchase 3D printer from a computer store, make a few statues of favored Heroes from the game, then apply knowledge gained from painting model tanks and battleships to make them look good. Nothing more.

The first few prints went bad—3D printing remained very much in the "kit car" stage. Finally, after quite a bit of fuss including half a roll of wasted filament, Sylvanas Windrunner began to take shape. A week of pained taping, painting, and minor repairs produced a figure approximately 14" tall.

Said figure was now doing far more than a simple voicebox-in-a-stand would lead one to believe it capable of.

 _Bash'a no falor talah!_

Across the Internet, cats were legendary for sitting and walking on electronics, especially computer keyboards, much to the chagrin of the user. In this case, it would be more accurate to describe it as a cat- _fight_.

Small arrows left dents in the desk. Hands yanked away from the keyboard, suddenly cold as a dark wave passed over them. A swipe kept anything from actually hitting the computer monitor.

 _You cannot escape my wrath!_

"Oh, but I can keep it away from my monitor!"

Sylvanas smirked, looking down at a defeated Valla who'd been whacked into a corner across the office.

"You may dress more appropriately for battle, but against someone five times your height…"

A cackle assaulted the ears of all present.

"Shut it, Windrunner, or I'll put you back in that box!'

Cocking her hips and giving a sideways glare, she retorted, "Don't you remember what happened the last time you made that little mistake?"

Being awoken at 2AM on a Tuesday by muffled screams, yells, and assorted noises normally associated with Heroes of the Storm was not something that would be easily forgotten.

Having printed a dozen characters, storage space became a slight issue, so thinking nothing of it, all but Valla were placed in a large hope chest at the foot of the bed. That was when it started. A cacophony of noise, light, and even _snow_ (in the middle of summer no less)! Between the flames, weird dust, small gunshot noises, and of course various battle cries, nobody would sleep for long.

Hands pried the hope chest's lid open just in time to see Nova dissolve into blue mist. Flipping on two bedroom lights, self-pinching was in order.

"Am I dreaming?"

"You dare confine the Lord of Terror to this…this undignified box?"

"You not friend of Brightwing. I will very happily kill you!"

"You know, between zerg, protoss, and Tychus, I guess this isn't all that strange…"

Tired, the chest's owner flopped back into bed.

"What a weird dream…"


	2. Little Helper

**Chapter 2 – Little Helper**

"Ugh."

Always too early. Always ten more minutes. A hand slammed down on "snooze" only to realize an object blocked the way. One eye cracked open in time to see something disappearing into blue fog.

"I am all for necessary killing, especially demons, but… Really!"

Mad scramble as the (comparatively) huge form sat up. Brightwing darted out of the way, but Sylvanas moved too slowly and ended up being vaulted back into the box.

"Hah. Maybe that will shut her up."

A small red dot darted across the chest's lip, and a loud "THWIP" followed, though in the burgeoning light of day it was clear Sylvanas dodged the shot with her Haunting Wave, dashing past Nova's bullet and onto the bed once more.

A purple hood and blonde hair appeared.

"Well, that was rude!"

"Wait, did I…"

"That ain't cool, man!" scolded Jim Raynor. "I think she was tryin' to help you with that alarm of yours!"

"You would not believe the kill count I racked up!" bragged Nova. "Six against Kerrigan alone…"

"…less than the eight I got on you, blondie. You're still second-best!" huffed Kerrigan, her wings unfolding as she emerged from the box.

"It already went off once" began Jaina. "I was going to shut it off again, since you clearly weren't waking up, but then you smashed me!" She pouted, and her staff let off a blast of ice which Valla dodged…by dashing right off the bed.

"Ooof!"

"Sorry" grunted a tired voice. "Too much Heroes of the Storm…"

Jaina wasn't kidding with her "I'm here to help!" line. Some things were better-suited to her fourteen-inch height than others, despite her best efforts. Sorting vitamins proved easy, though even Raynor laughed when she tumbled into the sink trying to retrieve a pill that a mischievous Brightwing dropped there.

"If you're not going to help, at least don't make things worse!" she complained.

"But flying is fun!" protested Brightwing.

"Does flying have to include harassing Jaina?" asked the raspy voice of Malfurion. "You could have helped get the toothpaste cap off the floor instead…"

Big hands lifted the sorceress from the sink, whose smooth sides were preventing escape.

"Look, I'll try not to step on you, or whatever, if you don't get in the way."

"You realize you can't just get rid of us, right?" came an echoey voice belonging to Sylvanas. "Besides, if there's one thing we all agree on it's that we're not going back in there."

A huff. The resulting gust of air sent Brightwing flipping head-over-tail.

"Wheeeeeee! This makes Brightwing happy!"

The giant disappeared, and reappeared wearing more than sleepwear.

"Uhh, guys, gals, I have to work now. Try not to trash the place, okay?"

[…]

Trembling fingers inserted a key into its lock.

 _Hopefully, this is all one really, really long dream. Though I wonder what my boss will say when I show up at 3PM…_

Slouching down before a monster 30" computer screen, the would-be Heroes player noticed a cold drink already set on a custom "N7" coaster. How it was chilled despite the office thermometer reading 78 degrees escaped an exhausted mind, until…

"Here we go!"

A not-insignificant amount of frost could be seen on its sides.

"Do I even want to know how you figured out where that was, opened the fridge, and got it here?"

A new higher-pitched voice intruded.

"You know, when they're not killing each other, most of these people are kind of cool!" A flourish of staff, and Li Li Stormstout waltzed into view. "Gazlowe had to do some, erm, _interesting_ rigging but we managed!"

Eyes swiveled upward.

"Oh, lord…"

A complex system of pulleys, weights, and other contraptions hung from the ceiling. Some of it looked well-built, but other portions appeared ready to fall at the slightest provocation.

"Anyone call for a one-man construction crew?" came a Boston-accented voice from high above.

"I thought you _wrecked_ things" protested the player.

"Yeah!" replied Gazlowe, "but sometimes I build 'em. Right Brightwing?"

The faerie dragon could be observed curled up on top of the wireless router.

"Hauling things make Brightwing sad! Is hard work!"

"It really was a team effort" elaborated Raynor. "I mean, whoever thought a crossbow could be used to fire a bolt fifty feet up?"

"First off, that's about seven feet. And second, have you seen 'Lord of the Rings?'"

Blank stares.

"Anyway, it should be cold by now" interrupted Jaina. "I'm glad everyone was able to work together on this!"


	3. Queens

**Chapter 3 – Queens**

After a week of pint-sized Heroes characters taking up residence, even the most skeptical had to just accept the bizarre new reality. So arriving home to a spat between Sylvanas and Kerrigan didn't seem all that strange. At least not until learning what the argument was about, at any rate.

"I clearly have dominion over this part of the dwelling" insisted Sylvanas. "We agreed, did we not?"

"Just because you can't catch them doesn't mean you can come over on my side" retorted Kerrigan. "This is my half!"

The rumble of their tall roommate silenced both.

"What's going on?"

"Long story short" explained Nova with a swish of her long hair, "the two of them got into a fight over who gets what."

"Gets…what?"

"Sylvanas has decided that raising undead insects is a good way to pass the time" added Valla petulantly. "As if we need anything else resembling hellspawn around here."

"Darlin', I warned you this might not go well" said Raynor. "Just 'cause you are used to commanding hordes where we're from doesn't mean…"

An irregular blob of insects and other household pests followed Kerrigan into view. Several black ants, two spiders, and even one of those weird-looking house centipedes. They all sported brown and green "additions" that looked suspiciously zerg-like.

"I think Sylvanas is jealous" whispered Jaina, perching on a shoulder. "Kerrigan got way more than she did."

Jaina had a point. Only two spectral beings followed the Banshee Queen.

"Are those wasps?"

"At least mine don't leave slime trails everywhere!" snarled Sylvanas, pointing at a shiny path that followed Kerrigan's horde. "And I suppose you're expecting us to clean up after you?" she added spitefully.

"So not only do I have living characters from a video game, but some of them have decided to tame the house pests?"

Brightwing happily flipped end over end on the gust of the resulting sigh.

"These matches are fascinating" said an awed Valla. "If we are not in combat, we may watch others and learn from them!"

"If this weren't so crazy, I'd accuse Blizzard's digital drugs of reaching a new level—actual, factual little devils that sit on your shoulders and egg you to play…"

"I am not little!" bellowed Diablo.

"Compared to that, you are" replied Valla smugly, gesturing upward. "One hit from either of those feet and you are off to the respawn!"

"So what was actually the problem?"

A log-sized pinky passed through Sylvanas' wasps, though the creatures recoiled as if struck anyway.

"I brokered an agreement that they could each lay claim to half the creatures in the domicile" began Malfurion. "But both of them proceeded to break it. And now they are fighting over who gets what. Kerrigan prefers them alive, Sylvanas wants them dead. Needless to say, that leads to a conflict, especially when each hunts on the other's territory."

Sylvanas turned her back to all concerned, but still let out "You rigged the game, you slimy cheater! You knew there were more to be had on the side you chose!"

"So what if I did?" smirked the Queen of Blades. "You agreed to let me have first pick!"

"Leave it to that Light-loving zealot Johanna to draw the line" sulked the undead elf. She swore the half-shaven woman had conspired with Kerrigan.

"I don't care who does what" thundered down an edict from far above. "Just keep them under control!"


	4. I Love Exploring

**Chapter 4 – I Love Exploring**

As if it wasn't difficult enough having a dozen foot-high cohabitants who apparently neither needed to eat nor sleep (that had been observed anyway), now there would be one more resident: a dog. Having accepted sitting duty three weeks ago, it wasn't exactly possible to back out with the excuse "I have a dozen new roommates." And once the printer finished spitting out parts for Sonya, there would be a baker's dozen.

How the group failed to notice the buzzing, whirring, humming fused filament fabrication device escaped understanding, or perhaps they were aware of it but hadn't said anything. Either way, they seemed wholly unaware of their origins. Said device had to be relocated onto a higher table though, considering Jake the Golden Retriever's tendency to bump into things.

In an amusing twist, it was now the characters receiving shocking news: they would soon be joined by another over-large being. Some of them had experienced _Canis lupus familiaris_ through their own backgrounds but others (like Diablo or Brightwing) knew little or nothing about these furry four-legged friends.

"You know, this does bring up the question of why we're small and down here while you're big and up there" said Jim Raynor. "I've seen plenty of dogs—problem is, we're about the size of chew toys since the pooch is on your scale, not ours!"

"If any mangy beast even thinks of touching me" fumed Sylvanas, "there will be an ass-kicking of the likes of which Azeroth has never seen!"

"So long as we do nothing unreasonable, the animal should have no reason to harm us. Unless, of course, it is possessed by demons" finished Johanna, glaring in Diablo's direction. Thankfully, only one manifestation of the demon classes existed, and he was easily kept in line by virtually everyone else who viewed his kind as abominations.

"Ehhh, I can't guarantee that" hedged the player. "You all know dogs like to grab things that, to them, are toy-like…"

"Any challenge will be met with the fury of my swarm!" retorted Kerrigan. Where the now-zergified garter snake came from was anyone's guess, however, she had enlarged her brood much to the chagrin of both player and fellow Heroes.

"Now now" cautioned Raynor. "Coming home to blood all over the carpet isn't what we want to do to our host…"

When Jake arrived, he bolted inside as usual, heading straight for the kitchen where a water bowl waited. Jaina dodged between legs. Brightwing's curiosity got her in trouble as she was swished aside by a large, hairy tail.

"Brightwing no like giant furry thing!"

Li Li, on the other hand, insisted on inspecting the new arrival.

Though nobody knew exactly what Jake was thinking (as much as his owners/caretakers might have wanted to), it was pretty clear he was at a minimum amused by the small beings that scuttled about.

Being smaller than the other Heroes, Li Li easily weaved among the dog's legs, causing the bemused animal to start sniffing after her.

"I don't smell that bad, do I? You oughta get a whiff of my uncle after one of his rowdy nights!"

As a dog, Jake understood none of this, but clearly found Li Li more interesting to smell than the others, especially as she decided his toys were as intriguing to herself as he found her existence. Getting a paw stuck in a "kong" did not deter her. Nor did taking an unintended shower in dog drool after standing underneath Jake's mouth immediately following his taking a large, sloppy drink.

She became aware that like some pets in her own land, the retriever liked (shockingly) to fetch items. With some trepidation, human left dog and Heroes alone together in order to run some errands, returning to yet another jerry-rigged Gazlowe device, this time constructed out of reappropriated LEGOs, hurling balls for the dog. While some seemed to enjoy it as much as Jake did, others like Sylvanas snorted and turned up their noses at the activity. It may have had something to do with Sylvanas' cape getting caught under a large paw, however. Her loud complaints were then followed by an (attempted) licking. She was about to unleash her undead wasps, but a combination of Li Li and Brightwing distracted Jake enough to convince her not to.

A loud crash caught the attention of all involved as a misfired ball sent Jake scrambling under a very specific table—the one on which Sonya's arm grew inside a 3D printer.


	5. (Wo)man in the Machine

**Chapter 5 – (Wo)man in the Machine**

Heroes dived left and right as their benefactor stalked to the table, stamping much more forcefully than necessary. A furious look crossed the supersized face, and Raynor assured other Heroes not from his universe that yes, the resulting tirade did consist of words not used in normal conversation.

"Did I ever tell you" seethed the voice, "how you were made?"

Johanna thought for a brief moment of mentioning Zakarum, but the anger in her large companion's expression deterred any speech.

"This is a bit of a missing steps plan" said the human from a large chair. The Heroes gathered like children at story time, arranged in a semicircle. Both undead wasps and zerg-ified lifeforms lined up neatly behind their summoners. "But, I presume you are all aware of the machine on that table?"

Several heads nodded in assent, but crucially, not all of them.

"Let me explain…"

"Listen. I don't know how we all ended up shrunken down to thirty-five centimeters and still having all our memories, but if it's anything like the Nexus I'd say we just roll with it and don't think too much" suggested Raynor after listening to the rather lengthy explanation.

Sylvanas opened her mouth, doubtlessly to offer some complaint, but was shushed by Malfurion. "Raynor is right. There is no point in bickering over something even our creator does not understand."

"Hold it there" demanded Nova as the player got up to leave. "You didn't tell us what got ruined."

She had the distinct feeling this piece of information had been deliberately withheld, so someone would have to ask in order to hear it.

"Ah. Yes. That. It was supposed to be an arm."

Holding the arm between two fingers, the disparity in size between the Heroes and their host stood out even more—and when they were told exactly whose arm it was supposed to be that further exaggerated the difference.

"Most of you will like this, at least one" (eyes moved to Diablo) "will not."

[…]

"That thumb is thicker than a barbarian's arm" said Johanna later. "I do not want to know what might happen should anger be directed at us."

"What about negligence?" sniffed Sylvanas, looking less perturbed and almost sad, an unusual expression for the high-and-mighty Banshee Queen (who still smarted over commanding fewer minions than Kerrigan, Queen of Blades).

Several pairs of eyes rolled, but Li Li defended Sylvanas. "She really does have a reason to complain this time. Look!"

Though several jugs of brew flew from Li Li's back toward Sylvanas, the undead elf's arm remained stubbornly deformed, as if it had been bent in the wrong direction but then bent back without fully ironing out the resulting kink. None of the other Heroes had really noticed this before, likely due to Sylvanas almost always carrying a bow whose guard concealed damage to her forearm.

"I'm told that I fell over twice" said Sylvanas quietly. "Despite best efforts, I ended up like this."

Kerrigan actually felt a slight twinge of guilt over mocking Sylvanas' apparent inability to capture the creatures that roamed their dwelling. Perhaps this slight bump in her arm was the cause, and not simply a lack of skill that could be trash-talked freely.

"So just have a new arm made!" exclaimed Jaina as if this were the easiest solution in the world. "If that _thing_ up there created us, it can surely provide new parts."

Sylvanas made a show of tugging on her damaged limb. Unlike the arm ruined by an accidental dog-ramming, it showed no signs of polygonal planes, no sharp lines.

"Unless someone knows how to merge this substance called 'plastic' with flesh, even as undead as I am, I don't think that will work."

Having learned something new about one of their own, the Heroes pondered what to do with their impending new member. It would be two days before Sonya joined the group, and while all thought themselves to have taken it well, some (perhaps wrongly) thought that a barbarian might not adapt as easily to the situation.

"Though he is a lesser evil, I shall demand Azmodan be moved up the print queue!" bellowed Diablo. "There are too many nephalem around!"

"Hey red, no hard feelings" offered Raynor. "I mean, I know we're supposed to hate each other, but who cares what someone wrote about off in this universe's California, or whatever it's called?"

"I suppose I can put our differences aside" he replied, though streams of fire emitted in a star-shaped pattern as he spoke. "Can you?"

"You ain't terrorizin' any villagers here, that was the only reason I had to put a bullet between your eyes last time."


	6. Things That Go Bump in the Night

**Chapter 6 – Things That Go Bump in the Night**

"Have any of you noticed that white car?"

Some of the Heroes opted to sit on the table during meals, leading to conversations. Today's topic revolved around a vehicle that nobody in the area recalled before making sudden, persistent appearances.

"You sure you don't just have new neighbors?" asked Malfurion. "No reason to get up-in-arms over everything if there's an innocent explanation."

"Who keeps binoculars on their dashboard?" shot back the player's reply.

"Well" suggested Jaina, "I suppose we could watch it while you're out, since it's not like we're busy all the time."

As the one who proposed it, Jaina took up first shift at the front window. From a distance, the now-living Heroes looked like the large figurines that were their original forms. They just had to be discreet about swapping places lest someone notice things moving that shouldn't.

Sylvanas slouched—she ended up fourth in line for watch-duty, having drawn the fourth-shortest straw. She decided her ghostly charges could let her know if anything happened, and sat below the windowsill brooding instead only to be confronted by Nova.

"Aren't you supposed to be keeping both eyes on that suspicious vehicle?"

"It doesn't matter" replied the Banshee Queen. "My undead wasps will let me know if anything happens."

"What about our cover?" argued the Ghost. "People will see that the figurine in the window is suddenly missing! We can't have that!"

"Who cares?" huffed Sylvanas. "It's not like people who obsess over these things don't rotate their displays every so often…"

[…]

"No noteworthy issues to report" said Nova as the player returned. "In fact, none of us saw anyone in that car the whole day! Even Jake kept quiet!"

"Maybe I was just being paranoid" mused the player. "But there have been no vacancies in my neighborhood for years…"

Jim Raynor stepped up. "I'll use my night vision systems to keep first evening watch" he declared. "I think Sarah will be happy to take second shift, what with zerg-enhanced senses and all."

The renegade commander watched as two dark shapes appeared inside the car. The glint of binoculars on the dashboard disappeared as a hand pulled them away.

"You'd think such obvious plots would be products of my world and not this one, but apparently no such luck…" he muttered.

One of the shapes appeared outside and melted into the shadows. Raynor didn't want to unnecessarily alarm anyone, but if these really were crooks casing out the place, it might be smart to have eyes on other windows. This plan sounded great until it occurred to him that few other Heroes possessed any kind of night-vision equipment, except…

"Hey there, _Marshal_ …"

She sounded entirely too happy and flirtatious for Jim's liking.

"Can it, blondie. All I need is for you to take another window. The player was right—the people in that car do look suspicious, but you're one of the only other Heroes who can see anything after the sun goes down."

"Oh, so you _do_ admit I have the best equipment…"

Raynor rolled his eyes.

"Just get to your post!"

Valla and Gazlowe were the only others that came to mind other than Sarah Kerrigan, the former due to constantly fighting demons in dimly-lit passages and the latter because while he possessed no innate low-light vision being a tinkerer he could probably build something.

"We cannot cover all of the vantage points simultaneously" said Valla upon being asked to participate. "We will have to patrol."

"There ain't enough of us to do this in shifts, either. I mean, if we gotta stay up all night I guess I can wake Li Li for some of her brew…" added Gazlowe.

"Though there may be only one demon in this realm, I will not abide thieves. I have survived far tougher situations than this!"

"Can ya cover my spot until I get these goggles put together?" asked Gazlowe.

"Sure thing, man. I got this."


	7. Hero Fort

**Chapter 7 – Hero Fort**

Eager to alert their extra-large roommate to observations from the previous night, the Heroes found themselves rebuffed. Something about "overdue TPS reports, and Jake needs a walk."

"Besides" said the player "it's not like anyone would pull a robbery in broad daylight. Not in this town!"

Raynor's eyes narrowed. Every time someone said something like that in his experience, things went bad. After the front door closed, he turned to the rest of the assembled Heroes.

"This may not be our core, but we've got to defend it if something happens!"

Sylvanas snorted. "The most excitement we've had around here is my new undead moth. And Sonya's other arm."

"You know, you should ask about _your_ arm" suggested Li Li. "When the printer's done, anyway."

"Let's just keep watch on that car!"

Jaina clambered over some books onto a windowsill. The spot they'd been focused on now had a large white van with what looked to be a factional or corporate logo on the side.

"Comm line runners?" guessed Raynor. "Pft. Like they ever show up on time."

"Hey, if I wanted to rob a place I certainly wouldn't drive up in a hovercar that said 'Nova's Swiping Service" interjected the Ghost.

"Swipers? No swiping!" squealed Li Li. "If they come in here, we're gonna get them good!"

"I wonder if we could convince the large beast to help" mused Johanna. "After all, his teeth would probably be more effective than the pinpricks we can bring to bear."

"I wouldn't call that nasty ring Jaina summons a pinprick" huffed Kerrigan. "How many times have I gotten caught in that?"

"You're just slow" taunted Nova. "The key is…"

"Let's stay focused on the problem at hand" interrupted Johanna. "There are unsavory types about who may seek to break and enter!"

"I wonder what they could possibly be after?" Even dour Sylvanas was curious about why their seemingly-ordinary (other than having them around) dwelling would be targeted by thieves.

"Perhaps the machine that produces us has use to them" suggested Valla.

"It was not just that _thing_ , which, I might add, I've caught Gazlowe snooping around" said Malfurion. "Some level of magic came from the chest we were stored in! Do you all not remember?"

A loud explosion disrupted the gathering.

"Sorry!" yelled Gazlowe from across the room. He'd commandeered blocks and other parts (stamped with "LEGO" on their tops) to build a large tower from which he could hurl his devices. One of his Xplodium Charges went off…too close to his construct. Two of its eight wheels popped off, and the already top-heavy device toppled. Within seconds, a slobbery Golden Retriever mouth attempted to pick up as many of the scattered parts as possible.

"Yech" said Li Li. Though she liked the huge furball, its drool was the one part she didn't enjoy.

An argument broke out between Nova and Gazlowe. The latter, having survived his tumble though now having fewer pieces to work with, wanted to rebuild his creation. Nova, however, figured it would be easier to build watchtowers out of the larger "KNEX" pieces also available.

"Fewer pieces, easier assembly, what's not to like?" she insisted.

"And you lose all the ability to do anything detailed!" retorted Gazlowe. "Big pieces, sure, it's easy. But if it's easy, it ain't fun!"

Despite their smaller stature compared to those they were originally designed for, both LEGO and KNEX pieces fit easily in Hero hands. A compromise was reached that saw Jaina, Malfurion, and Nova working on a sniper nest while Gazlowe, Brightwing, and Raynor reassembled his movable lookout post. A few modifications had to be made due to Jake's "retrieval" of some parts, but core functionality remained.

"You know, I wonder what kind of commentary we're going to get on this" mused Raynor as he handed Brightwing a sack of pieces destined for Gazlowe far above.

"We are doing the right thing" enthused Johanna. "I've seen very few who skulk in the shadows without having nefarious ends. We will be better able to cover the windows of this place!"

Nobody bothered to ask how Kerrigan now counted what was once a (full human) thumb-size field mouse among her brood.

Valla did not hear Johanna's comment—she was busy connecting some KNEX parts to make blue-and-green "spike" balls. To a Hero, they were simply large objects that could be rolled around with some effort. But to someone like the player? It would probably hurt, and throw them off balance to step on one. Smirking, she patrolled by an ever-growing pile of them until Jaina informed her that, actually, Nova's third tower needed some of the "little green cylinders."

Light began to fade as the sun sank lower in the sky. A loud series of beeps meant Sonya's new arm, uninterrupted by an 80-pound dog crashing into a table, was done. However, 5, 6, 7, 8 in the evening passed with no return. The arm cooled down to room temperature. Jake whined a bit before settling in, realizing if he got dinner at all it would be off-schedule.

Unsure what to do since the defenses consisting of toys, traps, and surprises were essentially complete, the Heroes decided to await the return of the player by swapping stories of their awakenings in this strange new world.


	8. Surprise

**Chapter 8 – Surprise**

"Well, work must be running late" mused Raynor. "Normally, we're all watching matches by now."

As Malfurion brought up earlier, all had become conscious in what was later revealed to be a large chest or box. Having exhausted even that topic, an alert from Nova got everyone's attention.

"Movement by the front door! Stand by with impediment devices, stat!"

A large truck built from KNEX with a Gazlowe-powered assist hauled Valla's traps into position. Brightwing hefted mightily to raise Kerrigan's snake into the air ("Humans no like long scaly things!") from which it would plummet onto the head of whoever entered. Diablo, normally obsessed with fire, found himself pressed into hauling duty alongside Johanna. Their goal? Bring enough water for Jaina to flash-freeze, sending any intruders onto their bottoms.

Malfurion's leafy containers weren't completely watertight, but a bit of ice kept them leak-free long enough for them to be moved where they needed to go.

 _Click_.

The door opened.

Several things happened at once.

It crossed many Hero's minds that a key opening the door, as opposed to it being kicked in or entrance being made through a window, suggested this wasn't a robbery.

Too late for that thought to be acted upon, all manner of improvised defenses went off simultaneously even as Raynor frantically called for a halt.

Diablo's claws tore into Malfurion's water holders, spreading the liquid all over the floor. Blast after blast from Jaina turned it into ice while Valla's blue-and-green pain devices skittered across the floor and ice. A slimy trail preceded Kerrigan's swarm as it positioned itself to unleash attacks from above.

Hanging from an overhead light, Johanna prepared to drop heavenly wrath on whatever entered, as if a snake to the head wasn't enough.

With a hiss, Kerrigan's snake dropped to the floor, sliding off hair and clothing. Johanna's sword-plant missed as the huge shape slipped on Jaina's ice, landing partially in a pile of painful Valla-contraptions. The muted snap of Nova's weapon added to the din as she aimed for eyes, ears, fingers, or anything else that a gun designed for a person of her size could possibly damage on someone five times taller.

Green _something_ launched from growths on two zerg-ified spiders splattered the target.

Raynor visibly sighed as cursing bombarded everyone's ears and lights came on. Loud barks heralded the arrival of a confused Jake, who couldn't understand why his caretaker lay on the ground and an army of the small creatures he enjoyed sniffing after surrounded the area.

"WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS?"

Nobody wanted to explain.

"We… We wanted to be ready in case the people in that shady car actually tried to do something" stammered Jaina.

"Now, to be fair, we tried to warn you this morning…" added Raynor.

Through throbbing head, foot, and everywhere-else pain, the player mentally conceded the pint-sized Heroes did have a point. Wincing, words came out slowly.

"But… Just remember… If this is going to turn into something like 'Home Alone,' _the robbers don't just use the front door!_ "

Li Li wanted to know what brought their housemate home so late.

"Also, what's 'Home Alone?'"

"After what we just did" said Malfurion to the curious pandaren, "I'd imagine answering questions is far from desirable right now. Ever remember a time when Chen just wanted to be left alone?"

Li Li thought back to the many times her uncle insisted on stopping for some unfathomable (to her) reason.

"Let's go on an adventure!" she muttered. "But stop every ten seconds to look at something!"

Granted, at that time she hadn't helped knock him flat on his rear due to mistaking him for a thief, but she understood the overall idea.


	9. Mark II

**Chapter 9 – Mark II**

None of the Heroes looked forward to what seemed to be an inevitable confrontation the next morning. However, the expected fight fizzled as nobody said anything about the night's events. Sitting at breakfast, the player seriously considered whether it was worth it to finish up Sonya, now piled in completed but unprimed, unpainted pieces, though these thoughts remained unvocalized.

"I had a bunch of meetings at work. That usually doesn't happen."

It was hard not to appreciate the little Heroes trying to protect themselves, but this did not make being the subject of their traps any more pleasant.

Slam.

"Well. That went better than expected" said Raynor. The Heroes, once again alone, debated their next move. On one hand, the preparations to ward off an intruder _worked_. On the other, they'd been overly-enthusiastically applied to the wrong person.

 _Woof, woof! Rawr-rawr-rarw!_

Jake skidded into view, his rear legs sliding like a car taken too hard into a corner. Nova, high in a rebuilt watchtower near a front window, offered an explanation.

"Package" she said simply. "No signature required, delivery guy dropped it and left."

"Hey, did anyone else notice something?" asked Li Li slowly. "Like, how when we sprung the trap last night, Jake didn't do anything until afterward?"

"But he becomes extremely territorial when people he doesn't know well approach" finished Johanna.

"Uhh, guys!" Gazlowe yelled from a countertop. "I think there may be a better way to move that water!"

Jim Raynor found himself letting out a hefty sigh, again.

"So you're saying fill these plastic bags, then drop them? Great" snapped Nova. "Except how do you expect us to get them that high? They're just a bit heavier than the plastic pieces we've been building with."

Brightwing fruitlessly tugged at a bag only half full. The faerie dragon gave up, panting before clawing the bag open to cool herself in the water, which splashed all over the counter before dripping onto the floor.

"Whoopsie!" She flew off, acting for all the world like nobody would know she'd caused the mess despite many Heroes watching.

"What about the bladed machine in the match room?" asked Jaina. "If it's anything like what we have in Azeroth, it might be useful."

"Thankfully, the instructions are still here" observed Malfurion. "We all know what happens if people dabble in things they don't understand." The druid sent a look Gazlowe's way.

"Hey, I understand plenty!" shot back the goblin tinker. "Just 'cause I like using more explosives than is strictly necessary doesn't mean…"

Raynor took the controls. Brightwing, hovering a little too close to the machine's rotors, got thrown back by air currents as they spun up. Before the "QuadMaster Flyer 1000" could leave its landing space, Li Li jumped aboard, clinging to parts of the frame.

"Hey, kid, get down from there!" yelled Raynor.

"No!" squealed Li Li. "Take me up!"

"Let the kid have some fun" insisted Nova, having traded places with Valla in the front watchtower. "It's not like you ever had any…"

The Ghost pushed him out of the way.

"Whoa!" she cried, as the machine took off far faster than she anticipated.

"WHEEEE!"

Li Li scrambled atop the drone as it pitched and yawed under Nova's unsteady guidance.

"No anti-grav? Primitives" she spat. As a Ghost, the tools she had access to hovered silently rather than making an obnoxious buzzing noise. Also, they were easier to control.

Nova decided to dive-bomb a sulking Sylvanas, sending the other woman's cape whipping around. The undead elf dashed out of the way, before supplying a very human gesture involving one finger on each hand.

Regaining altitude, Nova steered toward several bags Jaina, Malfurion, and Johanna had filled with water. Gazlowe worked with them to rig up a sling once the drone landed. Li Li hopped down, bouncing off one of the bags, which was then attached to a hook that according to the manual was part of a camera mount. As this represented a third of Li Li's weight at best, the QuadMaster practically shot into the air by comparison, causing Nova to squeak in confusion before regaining her composure.

"And just how are we supposed to get the bag _off_?" asked Johanna. "Unless there is some mechanism to…"

The whistle of Valla's arrows answered, hitting both the improvised strap and payload, which mostly dropped into the sink.

"Or I could just ride along!" The pandaren transported by drone down to floor level, and proceeded to pester Sylvanas. "Please? Please?"

"Fine" fumed Sylvanas, tossing a shadow dagger to Li Li. "Just…don't do anything stupid with it."

"As much fun as you're having" bellowed Raynor in the direction of Li Li above and Nova operating the machine, "you'd best watch that number!" He used his foot to point to a screen over which the letters "BATT" could be clearly seen.

25%. 24.5%. 24.1%. 23.7%.

"Whoops. Better put this back where we found it!" yelped Nova. One wobbly flight later (15%), Li Li hopped down onto the drone's charger.

"Great" huffed Raynor. "How do we recharge this thing?"


	10. Bombs Away

**Chapter 10 – Bombs Away**

Nothing was said about the QuadMaster's depleted battery that evening. Valla reported hearing something to the effect of "I thought I plugged it in to recharge, looks like I forgot." She also passed on information as to how the Heroes might best be able to repeat the process themselves, as there was no indication of knowledge that they'd spent the morning joyriding on it. They were also successful in hiding some of their new preparations, mainly water bags stuffed under undone dishes and additional hand-holds hidden among complex hanging structures already assembled for fetching drinks from the fridge.

Sonya now stood as a figurine, rather than pieces. She hadn't been painted or primed, just put together. Recalling the story of their creation in which printed parts were sanded, covered in gray spray primer, then painted prior to final assembly, this struck most of the Heroes as odd. Perhaps it was intended to place the plastic barbarian in the same chest that woke the rest, but she remained on an end table.

Out of curiosity, Nova tapped the whitish statue, tipping it over where Jaina caught it.

"Interesting. It cannot be the resurrective techniques" ("Reanimation!" yelled Kerrigan. "Corruption and torture!" hissed Sylvanas) "used by or on other Heroes" mused Jaina. "Then again, I think Malfurion has a point. It's best to not worry about these things."

Left on their own again after a hasty dinner, the dozen moved their defenses back into place. This time, they'd let Jake determine what qualified as being worthy of being beaned on the head, knocked into piles of plastic spikes, or having (small) globs of acid sprayed at it. Sure enough, at 11:30PM, Jake abruptly rose from his apparent slumber, and began pacing around. He finally stopped by a window, and of course it was one that didn't have a tower, watch, or other protection.

Suddenly, the big Golden Retriever began whimpering, and backed away. Spidering cracks, then a soft tinkling as the entire windowpane shattered.

"Looks like an ultrasonic device" said Nova. "Used those myself a couple times…"

"Yeah, well, we're also from the future. Didn't think these types would have such things" replied Raynor.

"Ow!" yelled Li Li, who'd ridden Jake into the room. "Whatever that was, it hurt!"

"Hm." Raynor tapped the sides of his head. Even with his visor up, he'd heard nothing.

A masked face appeared, and Jake started barking. A lot.

A soft click, then a yelp. Jake toppled over, dumping Li Li behind his substantial, though now non-moving bulk. From his vantage point, Raynor could see some kind of weapon in the intruder's hand, but it didn't look like any gun he'd ever seen.

"Probably a tranq" supplied Nova. "Looks like they knew about the dog. But they don't know about us… Going silent!"

Nova used her laser sight to send a signal to Heroes already in towers before cloaking.

"While I know others would probably condemn me for thinking such things, I have been looking forward to this."

Valla's thirst for battle was, like all other demon hunters, contained by discipline lest she turn into a red-hot ball of destructive hatred. The ability to balance the two was what made a demon hunter so dangerous.

Raynor concealed himself, hoping Li Li would have the sense to stay out of sight.

To the alert, a growing sound could be heard. Sylvanas, disdaining frontline combat, stood in the computer room where the QuadMaster was, slowly raising the volume on a device she'd been told was an "MP3 player," or, as Jaina helpfully put it "similar to those music boxes you like so much."

Scowling, the undead elf watched the sorceress' retreating back. Now, she slowly cranked the volume, as if someone were reacting to unexpected noise by trying to drown it out.

"Damn!" cursed Nova over her own comm that only reached Raynor, due to their shared universe and background. "Whoever they are, they're talking, but it's encrypted and without the usual computers hooked to my suit, I can't break it!"

She decloaked, signaled Valla again, and disappeared. Valla responded by firing a single arrow off toward the entrance where Jaina, Sylvanas, and Johanna waited.

"They're headed this way!" hissed Jaina. "Get ready!"

"I got a feeling…in my blood…" blared out of the room as Sylvanas continued turning up the volume. It covered Gazlowe, operating a KNEX truck, who dumped Valla's traps on the floor right outside.

"I need your touch, don't need your love…"

Crunch.

For the first time, Heroes heard voices.

"What was that? What'd I step on?"

From her tower, Valla's eyes simmered. She'd not counted on the intruders wearing boots that trod right over her contraptions as if they didn't exist. She did, however, smirk as one lost footing anyway and had to grab for the doorframe…followed by a thud as a dark shape hit the floor.

"Well done, Jaina!" she said, a little too loudly. Beams of light snapped to her position, and she reflexively froze.

"Nobody said anything about there being kids here!" groused one of the voices upon seeing a huge KNEX tower.

Glistening ice where the fallen attempted to steady themselves against the entryway went unnoticed.

Zwip. Hands brought a garrote over the chair in which the player usually sat, but, of course, the chair being empty meant nothing happened and other hands containing a knock-out compound found nothing either.

"What the hell is with the stereo?" demanded a female voice, before a sweeping hand knocked the MP3 player out of its cradle.

"Probably ghosts" snarked one of her partners. "Who you gonna call?"

"Let's get the two things we came for and leave!" hissed the first.

Johanna fell from the ceiling, deliberately missing any of the would-be robbers, but landing hard on the bottom of a metal garbage bin. Despite her small size, the impact made a significant noise, causing all of the humans to jump. It also covered the clattering of Malfurion working with Brightwing to tip the unfinished Sonya into Gazlowe's truck below.

Lights shone through the mesh that made up the circular bin.

"Oh ho!" taunted one of the robbers. "Looks like someone was naughty! Kid's probably locked in his room—check out this cool toy in the trash!"

Johanna kept still as stone. Hopefully, the very fluid cloth and flexible plating atypical of a simple plaything would pass unnoticed.

"I wonder if it talks" asked another of the team.

"What are you, twelve?" snapped the only woman to speak so far. "Stay focused!"

The hand holding her squeezed.

Big mistake.

"Faith is my shield!"

Said shield bounced off a nose, made solid contact with her tormenter's left eye, then returned to where it belonged.

"Well that answered your question, Tom!"

"Oh, so you think this is funny?" fumed Tom. "Harry, this…this _toy_ threw part of itself at me!"

Harry stopped laughing, but not because Tom had flung Johanna at him.

"What the… Gross!" Harry pulled _something_ off himself that flashlights revealed to be a very, _very_ strange-looking snake oozing a disgusting yellow liquid. Roughly two seconds passed, and then…

"Harry, what happened?" asked a new voice the concealed Heroes hadn't heard before. "You've got welts on your neck!"

Turning his hands over, Harry realized the places he'd touched the snake were now swelling, angry, red lines that wouldn't have seemed out of place had he tried to grab poison ivy. The same could be said of where the reptile originally landed on him, as well.

Kerrigan laughed quietly at the results of her newly-upgraded minion as she hung from Gazlowe's "Drink Express" that they'd built at Jaina's urging. Before, it had simply been a snake with some modifications to make it respond to her will. Now, it was a bit nastier. She commanded the creature to hide lest it be trodden upon.

"You'll wake the kid!" hissed the woman as Harry broke out in a string of curses.


	11. You've Got to Be Kidding Me!

**Chapter 11 – You've Got to Be Kidding Me**

"There must be no work today" said Jim Raynor as a fist slammed down on "Snooze" for the fourth time (Jaina, despite her helpful nature, knew better than to try to assist with this again). "Who volunteers to explain what happened last night?"

Jaina wore the sourest look anyone had ever seen on her—which wasn't saying much compared to anyone who wasn't Jaina—as she waited on the table, standing next to a cereal bowl that came halfway up her shin. She didn't even wait for a greeting before launching into an explanation of the night's events.

"As you're well aware, someone attempted to break into your home last night. We managed to clean up the shattered glass, and while plant growth may not be the optimal solution it sufficed to keep any non-human would-be houseguests at bay."

Nova stepped up.

"We also found this after they turned tail and ran. You should have heard the screaming after…"

She paused.

"We get it, blondie. You don't want to talk about how my snake sent them running like scared terran babies who heard the 'zergling under the bed' story again" interrupted Kerrigan, though more teasingly than an actual put-down.

The Ghost looked tongue-tied, before finishing her sentence.

"…yes. That."

She stuck her hand out, holding a tranquillizer dart they'd pulled from Jake, who other than being a little more sleepy than usual, seemed no worse for the wear after being knocked out.

After some typing on the computer ("Googling" it was called), all came to the conclusion said dart would offer no clue—they were sold by the box on Amazon. It wasn't as if the only place such equipment could be purchased was the local Crook-Mart.

"I'm not calling the police" insisted the player emphatically. "They'd come over here, then I'd have to explain you all…"

"Did anyone determine what the malcontents were after?" asked Johanna. "Or do we only know they wanted 'two things?'"

"The only information we have is what you heard" replied Raynor. "You were the one who got thrown at 'Harry.'"

Big hands obscured face and elbows rested on the table.

"This is insane! What could anyone possibly want from me?"

Two things served to take minds off the attempted burglary. First, Brightwing fluttered around like a very large, green butterfly, demanding to be "let outside."

Malfurion explained that while he'd done the best he could, "a few small critters got in. And our fey friend here had herself some nighttime snacks."

"Please let Brightwing out! Many…things…must be eaten!"

"You do resemble a small bird. I guess if you stay in the yard… Someone keep watch on her!"

With their large roommate seemingly in a better mood, Valla hopped up next to Nova and Raynor, followed by a new Hero.

"I suppose we are long way from Sanctuary and Arreat."

Shrugging huge shoulders, the player remarked "This is undoubtedly magic. I definitely didn't paint you…"

"What is my purpose here?" demanded Sonya, wandering Barbarian. "There is only one demon. Who I cannot kill no matter how many times I drive my blades through his chest!"

She sounded almost _disappointed_ by this. Upon receiving an explanation (mostly from Valla), Sonya confessed that "This whole thing makes no sense."

"Why did you put Sonya in the chest?"

Raynor gave the player a "you have got to be joking" look.

"Now hold on a minute. You were going on and on about how you put all this work into us—Nova's hair took two days!—and then you assemble this Sonya without so much as a drop of paint? Seems like you were gonna put her there yourself!"

No response.

"So even though we nearly killed you, you still want more of us, huh?" asked Nova.


	12. Butterflies Delicious Butterflies!

**Chapter 12 – Butterflies. Delicious Butterflies!**

Brightwing had eaten a crane fly and two moths that came too close to holes left by the burglars before Malfurion could patch them. Now, she darted about the yard among flowers and grass under the watchful machine-enhanced vision of Jim Raynor.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

She was particularly interested in something that fluttered about as she did. Later, Brightwing would learn what a "hummingbird" was (as she finished eating it), but at the moment she contented herself with chasing this new arrival. Whatever it was, the creature had an affinity for flowers. Its reflexes, though, kept it out of her reach despite many attempts to capture it with her long tongue.

Annoyed, Brightwing turned to less-mobile sources of food—small red berries scattered among the grass. After consuming several of these, attention turned to small, triangle-shaped yellow or white morsels that reminded her of the moth she'd already eaten.

"Day-moths! Fun!"

They were easy prey.

Raynor wore a look of disgust mixed with wonderment. How Brightwing managed to capture the "buzzy thing" ("hummingbird" he'd said) escaped his understanding. Then she ate it. In one bite.

"Would be like me eating an entire turkey in one go" he'd said to Nova upon bringing Brightwing back inside. Other Heroes tried to ignore the fact that the smiling, cute faerie dragon's mouth dripped with blood from her meal, but a quick survey of those present revealed several disquieted expressions.

"Do you not like snacktime? You are silly!" she chided Valla.

Valla discreetly retched in another direction.

"If you absolutely insist on fighting" lectured Malfurion, "at least use the box!"

Sonya and Diablo tumbled about, ignoring any pleas to make a mess elsewhere. The Barbarian quickly learned how useless butter knives were for doing damage to anything, as despite its impressive size relative to the Heroes, the serrated but dull blade did nothing to Diablo's thick hide. Flames spreading out from the demon lit anything they touched on fire, including a bunch of napkins. Nearby water-bags meant to be dropped from the QuadMaster were employed to put it out, but unlike the Heroes none of this damage undid itself.

Even the player expressed annoyance at this grudge-match, deftly picking up both Heroes and dumping them into the chest that brought them to life in the first place.

"Is anyone else going to misbehave?"


	13. Battlecruiser, Operational!

**Chapter 13 – Battlecruiser, Operational!**

Sonya landed hard in a world she did not recognize. It was not Sanctuary, nor did it resemble the "Azeroth" she'd heard of from Jaina. No, the metal was cold underfoot, and she could feel its grated texture as she cautiously stepped forward. Strange moving tapestries conveyed all sorts of information—"targeting locks" and "reactor temperatures" were displayed for all to see.

A particularly large display had three blocks on it, all empty. Above, in language she could somehow comprehend, were the words "Yamato Cannon Energy Supply."

Sonya's wondering what this could possibly be about vanished upon hearing a voice booming out of nowhere. For reasons unknown, she had memories of many battles across different lands—some were among forests, others seaside, and one even took to the clouds (though it was not the High Heavens).

"If you want to bombard your enemy, you'll need power cells. Three ought to be enough!"

 _But where are they?_ wondered the Barbarian. Normally, objects (like coins or tributes) appeared in visible places around the map—but no such things graced her vision. Seeing a wave of minions pushing in the center lane, she arrived just in time to see one of the outermost towers explode. Inside the perimeter of its base, a glowing cylinder that looked like it would fit in the huge cannon mounted on her side's core.

As she grabbed the item, an arm lifted her up and over.

"Your gods abandon you, Nephalem!"

 _Sigh._

She wondered who might berate her, as they did in her recollections, for "tower-diving." Though, to be fair there was only one active tower left and a(n un)lucky grab-over-the-wall could happen to anyone.

Back in the Hall of Storms.

"It's about time you showed up. We were waiting for you!" griped Nova.

"So you got thrown back in here too."

"No" replied the Ghost, "but after we saw you get tossed in here we figured you could use a hand."

The cloaked assassin, Malfurion, Raynor, and Johanna would be on her team. Turning, she saw a display of the opposing team—Li Li, Nazeebo, Diablo, Sylvanas, and oddly enough, Valla.

"Did Valla choose her assignment?" Sonya had seen Nephalem fight alongside hellspawn on occasion, though the large number of fighters from "Azeroth" made this less necessary.

"Short straw" replied Nova, laughing. "Nazeebo doesn't mind, but you think the Demon Hunter would willingly team up with the things she spends her whole life killing?"

"If this is anything like the Hyperion" cut in Raynor, "then we'll need to power up the cannon on our core to blast the enemy's defenses. Ideas on how we do that? Gonna be some random voice telling us to collect the coins?"

"Well, when the tower on the other side exploded, it left something behind" offered Sonya. "It's right there, attached to our core!"

"Base under attack."

Jim Raynor rolled his eyes.

"I hate that sound…"

While they'd been talking, Diablo's team crushed two outer towers.

"Fort destroyed."

"Yeah yeah, we know!" complained Nova. "It's not like we're sitting here with our heads in the sand!"

Diablo advanced, his huge bulk obscuring less-sturdy teammates clumped behind him. Sylvanas' arrows struck their keep again and again, preventing its weapons from firing. Li Li undid the damage being poured onto Diablo, but not nearly fast enough to handle Nova's triple tap and a Hyperion bombardment. She would have thrown up her gigantic jug of a thousand cups, only to be stunned by a flung shield, along with Sylvanas and Valla.

"Feel the fury of Arreat!"

Sonya's blades crashed into Nazeebo, now vulnerable with the rest of his team engaged. Sylvanas' affliction against the keep wore off, letting it slow those around it once again.

A tower crumbled, but nobody snatched its power source before it disappeared. Diablo vanished, but the red-eye-like remnant left behind meant he'd be back soon.

Valla flipped away, out of the range a round from Raynor that would have knocked her in the same direction. Malfurion managed to keep everyone alive, though just barely.

"Ha HA!" Valla seized the floating gray box in front of her, having vaulted into the remains of the other tower.

"The Yamato is loaded. And so am I!" boomed the disembodied voice.

"Oh, darn…" Raynor turned in time to see a familiar orange blast crash into the core.

"Wait, wait, hold on" protested Soyna despite using her two swords to send Nazeebo to his team's Hall of Storms, "doesn't the big blast normally take out forts and keeps first?"

"How should I know?" snapped Raynor. "We just got here!"

"You expect someone known as the 'Prime Evil' to play fair?" chided Nova. "I bet he cheated somehow!"

Whether Diablo had in fact cheated became irrelevant over the course of uncountable matches, until without warning the Heroes' world turned upside-down.


	14. WET

**Chapter 14 – W.E.T.**

"This time, no screw-ups!"

"Aw man, I thought making sure Harry and Marv weren't on the same team would have solved it!"

"Tom, you were the one who came back here with a black eye and blisters because you were attacked. By. A. Toy."

Bokat-Anne Vizsla wasn't going to take any whining from the team she'd finally gotten to stop making fun of her name (six months of relentless ragging). Nor would she tolerate anything that would reduce the effectiveness of the Weaponized Extraction Team. They'd failed at their first mission for reasons that made no sense—it seemed to be something straight out of a children's movie about living toys.

Currently, another night-raid brought five of them to the target residence. Befitting their organization's purpose of clandestine operations, no flooding the whole place with light (which would have, retroactively speaking, likely revealed whatever it was that tripped them up the last time). That also meant in the darkness that Harry managed to blunder straight into one of the desired items, knocking it over.

The chest in question tipped onto its front, its top opening as it did so. Cries of confusion and surprise brought tactical lights swinging. It was only a few seconds, but for both groups felt like eternity as heavily-armed humans stared at foot-high Heroes sprawled out on the floor.

"That one!" yelled Tom, an accusing finger stabbing at Johanna. "That's the one that hit me in the face last time! Not gonna work now!" he crowed from behind his faceplate/mask.

It didn't take a team coordinator for the little Heroes to realize that without the element of surprise, they were quite literally outgunned. They scattered. Li Li's curiosity got her in trouble as a boot connected with her half-size frame. She vanished in blue mist, only to reappear in the open chest.

"Grab the chest and let's get out of here!"

[…]

One smashed window and a missing chest. That was what they'd have to explain, with all the towers, defenses, and traps they'd laid accomplishing nothing.

"Then again, what were we supposed to do against people five times our size, _with guns_ , when they could easily see us?" asked Raynor to the rest as they thought up what to say after the burglars left.

"Where's Li Li?" inquired Nova.

Another pause. This time longer. The Heroes looked at each other, around the room, and some up at the ceiling before breaking out into a storm of protests.

"I thought she was with you!"

"No, she was definitely not with me!"

"Wait, who saw her last?"

"Logic suggests that if she is with no one, and not anywhere else in this domicile, she is simply not here" finished Johanna with an air of finality, shouting to be heard over the din. "As to where she is now, I haven't the slightest idea."

Quick checks in the match room and other places did not reveal Li Li, and it was unlike her to hide or play pranks for this long since actual, legitimate concern was being generated by her absence.

"Do you think the robbers took her?" asked Nova.

A/N: Tacking toward a more serious, less whimsical arc, though obviously still focused on the Heroes characters and their interactions with the "real world."


	15. I Hate Exploring

**Chapter 15 – I Hate Exploring**

Bokat-Anne's team brought the item in question to the headquarters of SPEAR (Strategic Prevention, Extraction, and Ablation Regiment). They'd successfully staged a Prevention and Extraction, but the existence of what appeared to be tiny characters (not toys) meant Ablation would then become necessary.

"Yes, Agent Vizsla?"

"Well, it's about Tom's report…"

"You said he was attacked by a toy. And somehow suffered chemical burns, again from a toy."

Her superior sounded _very_ skeptical, despite working for an organization that sought to keep the world blissfully ignorant of goings-on that might be considered "unnatural."

"They're not toys" she blurted. Pushing the chest forward, she opened its lid, reached in, and pulled out something black, white, furry, and quite irritated.

"Who are you? Let me go!" squeaked a voice from her hand.

"This is more believable. A living creature, made so by the 0-10-4 I presume?"

Vizsla struggled to control this small panda-like being doing its level best to escape her hand. Her tactical gloves gave her grip additional texture, like a hiking boot's bottom, that would make most squirming much less effective.

"This is why our intelligence sent us to that place" she continued. "Though, I had no idea at the time that the 0-10-4 would turn plastic into reality…"

"None of us did, Agent Vizsla, we just knew it existed and that we had to get our hands on it. I take it the device that produced these…things…was not captured."

"We were unsure if the rest of the dwelling would have more defenses than last time. To be fair, they only worked because my Bandit squad was sent in with very specific orders to keep things quiet—if we'd floodlit the place these little creatures and their toy-size traps would have done nothing to us."

Bokat-Anne inwardly cursed whoever insisted on sending them in the first time looking "like regular crooks" (no tactical gear, aside from the ultrasonic window breaker).

"I'm not a thing, you jerk! Put me down!"

"Then what are you?" demanded Vizsla's superior, addressing Li Li held in Bokat-Anne's vice-like hand. "I know of no animals this size that can speak."

"What's a 0-10-4?" Despite her situation, Li Li's curiosity kicked in again.

"That box" snapped Bokat-Anne, jabbing with her other hand, "that turned pieces of plastic into living, talking beings!"

Technicians in clean-room gear arrived to remove said box to a laboratory where it could be further examined.

"Take the mini-panda to our specimen lab."

Li Li didn't like the sound of that.

[…]

"I should have never put any of you in there" fumed the player to the much-smaller Heroes who'd gathered around to describe the latest in a series of increasingly-ridiculous happenings that all started with being awoken by the sounds of a battle inside a hope chest at the end of the bed.

"And we shouldn't be here. We aren't even _real_ in your world" replied Nova. "But here we are. How do we move forward?"

"First, we have to find Li Li" insisted Johanna. "Even as inquisitive as she is, she would not wander off or disappear for this long on her own. Besides, only Brightwing was allowed outside."

"I bet whoever keeps smashing their way in probably saw her and grabbed her."

A large sigh. For once, Brightwing was nowhere nearby.

"Look, I have no idea who these people are. The only thing that's similar between them" (large hands pointed outward) "and me" (reverse) "is that we're on the same physical scale. Whoever they are, they're not just your ordinary thieves, based on what you've told me about the latest raid…"

"Well, it's not going to work very well, but…"

Nova outlined a way to tie her suit's infiltration and processing programs into existing computer hardware.

"Of course, this is all theoretical, and it might well take _magic_ to make this work."

It took her a few seconds to realize why everyone from the player on down was staring at her.

"If this is all magic, why not just stick yourself in one of these 'computers?'" asked Jaina.

"Very funny, she-who-has-never-seen-computers-in-her-life."

"I need more powerful computers to make this work, if it can even work" grumbled Nova after trying to use the player's gaming rig. "This has maybe a hundredth of the power I need."

As a result, it was decided to send Nova (cloaking) and Valla (hard to see despite not using technology) on a mission to find out more about these mysterious Hero-snatchers by connecting Nova's systems to faster computers that could be found in large government or private facilities. Fortunately, a nearby University possessed such machines, mostly for its physics department.

"You can't just go out there" thundered the Heroes' large roommate. "People like me might see you, and then what? You're not Brightwing—you can't be written off as a weird bird. It may not be much, but let's run some tests…"

A/N: Yes, SPEAR is a reference to Marvel's SHIELD. I avoided SWORD on purpose.


	16. Now You See Me

**Chapter 16 – Now You See Me…**

Measuring whether one person noticed Valla's dashes or the shimmer of Nova's cloak in a variety of situations hardly qualified as a thorough evaluation. However, hypothesizing the existence of the Heroes was what caused serial break-in attempts and further not wanting to draw anyone else into it, these limited exercises were the best option available. Under the right light, Nova's cloak rendered her almost completely invisible, but even slight shifts in angle could reveal _something_. And worst-case, it looked as though blurred air were moving about.

Valla relied on a dash of dark magic combined with superior usage of environment to keep herself hidden rather than technology. Therefore, she didn't have to disappear so much as make anyone who saw her question whether they'd really seen anything at all. She smirked upon finding out she'd out-stealthed Nova in several of the tests, especially at night.

Upon hearing this, the Ghost pouted.

"You've always been too competitive" teased Kerrigan. "Even though I really _am_ better than you…"

"Whatever" replied Nova.

"I'm guessing we don't have much time before something unpleasant happens to Li Li" mused Raynor as the group debated more experiments or whether to send the duo out that night. "I'm no book nerd" (he glanced at Jaina) "but it seems a lot of what happens to us in particular follows a certain type of narrative…"

One advantage Nova possessed revolved around her wrist-mounted planetary positioning system (essentially a GPS) whose original purpose was guiding in nuclear strikes. It would permit the pair to navigate without relying on street signs whose relative height made them skyscrapers. Or stopping to ask for directions.

"Some things don't change!" she said happily upon seeing it lock onto five GPS satellites as soon as she stepped outside. She turned to Valla. "If you say 'The path leads this way' one more time, I'm going to use a tazer round on you."

"Our hunt begins."

Nova rolled her eyes. It wasn't exactly a "hunt" to find a location given to them via a quick internet search. It was, however, a journey—one that would take forty hours of nonstop walking. This based on the assumption that if it was supposed to take a player-sized human eight hours, then someone five times smaller would take five times longer. It also assumed no rides were hitched on any vehicles.

At night, streets in the suburb where the player lived were rather devoid of traffic, though many parked cars could be seen. Though it had been discussed sending a larger team ("I can kinda, sorta rig something!" insisted Gazlowe) that could take control of a "normal-size" vehicle, the idea got shot down faster than Brightwing in Nova's sights.

"Slow down!" huffed the covert operative. "Hostile environment training and endurance training are two entirely separate things!"

"You would have never survived _my_ training."

"We're not going to survive this _together_ if you keep dashing ahead of me!"

Valla slowed to Nova's pace. "Demon Hunters are typically solitary. Working with others is rare, not even other Demon Hunters. And even then, it is usually a short collaboration to bring down an exceptionally powerful hellspawn—and that does not require crossing great distances at speed alongside companions."

"Really?" Nova admitted confusion. "I seem to recall you griping about how this would be much easier if you had some guy named 'Kormac' here to help you."

"Well, _he_ had ways of keeping up with me. He also never complained."

Darkness began to recede after hours of walking, as a lone delivery truck chuffed up behind the Heroes, its engine clattering. Without speaking, they both climbed its rear tires and swung over to the bumper at the level of the truck's load floor.

"If it deviates too much from where we want to go, we hop down. I'll keep track."

Nova held out her arm so Valla could read the GPS' output. "ETA" scrolled down from "36 hours, 27 minutes" to "28 minutes." At "15 minutes" both Heroes' heads snapped up as if yanked by chains.

"The sun is rising" said Valla, a note of unease creeping into her voice. "If this vehicle is followed, we will be noticed."

Wind rushed by, faster and faster. Nova quickly explained the concept of highways to Valla, ending with "…which pretty much guarantees there's going to be someone behind this truck at some point."

Climbing down from the load floor onto the load-step, both endeavored to stay concealed in the vehicle's shadow as it drove toward the rising sun. Nova watched with dismay as "ETA" rose from "13 minutes" to "2 hours."

"Traffic jam" she fumed as the truck slowed down. "We need to move now, before someone pulls up behind our ride!"

Now Nova had the advantage, creeping under stopped or very-slowly-moving cars, safely hidden from view. Valla, used to running upright for extended periods, gritted her teeth in displeasure as she scraped her armored breastplate along the asphalt. It was that or crawl on all fours like an overly-enthusiastic child live-acting "Knights and Keywardens."

"Even in my world, centuries more advanced, they still hadn't solved this" said Nova. "People all trying to go to the same place at the same time—add more road and it fills up. Not enough, and you get the same jam."

"I have seen this. When kings and ministers ignored the threat of hellspawn, leading to their cities being overrun, the caravans leaving stretched for leagues."

"We're going to have to find someplace to hide during the day" replied Nova. "Also, is it just me or is it getting hot?"


	17. Laboratory Panda

**Chapter 17 – Laboratory Panda**

Li Li struggled, scratching, biting, and kicking. Reality was, no seven-inch-high creature could do serious damage to things ten times taller without the aid of weapons (even then, serious injury to the larger being remained unlikely). Especially since laboratory techs wore reinforced suits due to the nature of their work as a peeved pandaren was hardly the most dangerous thing in SPEAR's vaults.

Li Li found herself strapped down. Lots of blinking lights and arms with instruments on the end. Thankfully, none of them were pokey, proddy, or stabby. She was torn between curiosity and revulsion, so she settled for feeling minorly annoyed.

"This 0-10-4 is off the charts" dictated one scientist. "Whatever's been done to that hope chest really set a record."

"Are we good to go on the transmogrification and embiggeration?"

Both snickered. Yes, those were the official, scientifically-accepted terms within SPEAR for utilizing artifacts that could transform and enlarge/shrink objects.

"Nothing from these scans suggest there will be problems. Get ready to scale up!"

"Are the adaptive holds ready?"

If they hadn't been wearing full-body coverings, the asker of this question would have seen many eyes roll around the lab. _Of course_ the restraints were set to adapt to the new form this "Li Li" would take if everything went as planned. A different, larger form.

"Start the embiggering!"

A chart showed the estimated height of what would be a hybrid human- _something_. Ultimately, this scaled-up being would be capable, so it was thought, of detecting additional similar magic at far lower concentrations than that which emanated from the hope chest which lit up sensors easily. What else to call it, since though it possessed observable fixed properties it defied all known science?

No sedation was employed during the process, and Li Li slowly became aware that the chamber she was in seemed to be getting smaller. Was she growing, or the containment cylinder shrinking? Looking out through hazy glass, she guessed the former since everything outside remained static compared to the cylinder's walls. Swinging her head left and right, Li Li saw no issue with the restraints holding her down, either—they grew along with her body.

She reached approximately waist-height compared to human shapes she could see through the hazy glass, after which change in size stopped. Li Li's eyes were drawn to rapid, short gestures from the pink blobs that must have been hands.

"Did you even bother looking at how big this panda was supposed to be?"

"It must be a calibration problem. Try again!"

Thankfully for the two scientists, SPEAR was not one to "shoot the messenger" so to speak—nobody would be choked or imprisoned for this unexpected failure, however, management _would_ want to know _why_ it happened.

"It appears there were issues with both embiggering and transmogrifying; they should have happened at the same time."

A video screen showed a much larger Li Li, though she remained as pandaren as she'd been upon being thrown into the device.

"Whatever's going on in there—magic or otherwise—doesn't play nice with our equipment."

Those in charge of SPEAR almost found the whole situation amusing. A device which had been used fairly regularly on its own operatives (usually in the other direction) and produced tested results applied to a creature created by an unknown 0-10-4 ending up with unexpected consequences hardly rated a surprise.

Of course, the whole reason SPEAR existed was due to the very blurry line between "sufficiently advanced technology" and "actual, factual supernatural occurrence" (the word "magic" was frowned upon). A world that couldn't resolve different interpretations of a book or settle national-scale disputes without blowing up a good portion of its population could hardly be counted on to manage itself in the presence of "functional supernatural phenomena" (or FSP for short).

Interviews with the newly-enlarged being, called "Li Li" ("You could have looked this up on Google" huffed one scientist known to play video games) revealed more questions than answers. Though she was clearly not of Earth, it remained a mystery where the "pandaren" _was_ from.

"I wonder if the obsession some video game players have brought her here?" Filed in the personal notes section, of course—such musings were best left as bar-talk or fanfiction. No serious scientist would ever hypothesize something so ridiculous.

"You think I can help you track down the others? What are you going to do with them?" Li Li wouldn't object to assisting these people, so long as they weren't going to ask her to do something nasty. Besides, it might let her friends step out of the shadows.

"Your creation stemmed from the strongest 0-10-4 we've ever seen. The world we live in is not ready for such things—never mind that even we cannot explain many of these goings-on, including the fact that you exist."

For all the hullabaloo and being dragged around, these people were not nearly as unpleasant as her first encounter with "Bokat-Anne."

"Uhh, ooooookay. Did you ever think that a talking, walking panda might seem a bit out of place out there?" She paused, before electing no harm could come of it. "Also, I'm hungry. Got any fish cakes?"


	18. Dashing Down the Road

**Chapter 18 – Dashing Down the Road**

Though both Valla and Nova had significant experience in hostile environments (the latter laid claim to attacking what was essentially Hell itself), each found their present predicament quite unpleasant. The cross between magic and training used to keep a Demon Hunter moving also kept them cool—forced to crawl, Valla found herself rapidly overheating.

She was going to pull herself along the underside of vehicles, but after grabbing onto something that turned out to be even hotter than the road surface, she deadpanned "Demon fireballs are preferable" before resuming her crawl. Nova, marginally better off in her Hostile Environment Suite (minus helmet), replied "Sounds like Char!"

According to Nova's GPS, there were still three and a half hours to go.

"Only marginally slower than riding that truck!" Nova tried to stay upbeat. They had to figure out what happened to Li Li—nothing a little tech from the 2500s couldn't fix (bolted on to ancient history from what she was told as the current date was some time in 2015).

Hours later, Nova's face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Accuracy: 6m" had become "20m" with spikes higher than 40.

"There's always a downside" she hissed to Valla. "Looks like GPS satellites in 2015 don't have the same precision as I'm used to." Given that Valla learned about the concept as they'd left last night, she didn't have anything to say in response. "It means we can't navigate without seeing the street signs" sighed the Ghost. "Which by extension entails poking out from under these cars."

 _Finally_. Valla hid a small smile at this.

Both fervently hoped they hadn't been seen during the morning commute, though neither could be sure. Now, in the heart of a big city, it would take the utmost skill to avoid being spotted some among the hundreds of thousands who poured in every morning. Many were making beelines for preferred coffee shops prior to arriving at work (because who liked the machines in the office?)

"We're supposed to make a right turn sometime soon, on 'South Racine Avenue,' but I can't tell how close we are. Check the street signs please!"

Grateful to at last be allowed to utilize her dashing tumbles, Valla zipped out from under the vehicles clogging what Nova said was "West Congress Parkway." She also immediately felt much better as heat dissipated. Reporting back Valla remarked "Naming is strange around these parts. It looks like 'Throop Street.'"

At the next intersection, the pair made the planned right turn, though traffic thinned off the big highway that brought them in under the cover of thousands of commuters.

"You can read the building signs, right?"

Valla wrinkled her nose and was about to loose a cutting remark, before realizing the implication was not her being illiterate but rather from their (small) perspective deciphering signage set at heights meant for larger beings could prove difficult.

"I will be able to position myself to make it a non-issue."

"Good" replied Nova. "You're looking for 728 W Roosevelt Road. Take a left once you reach Roosevelt and you'll find it."

"Why are you telling me this?" For all the insistence on staying together, this sounded awfully like Nova wanted her to go it alone.

"The traffic is getting sparser. I think it's best we use our own stealth methods, then meet up at the building."

Both could only hope their various means of stealth worked out in the increasing light of day. They met by a revolving door. Realizing neither had the strength to open it, they tailed a jeans-wearing, frazzled-looking entrant.

"Now I just have to scan for big power usage from the computers themselves, or their cooling systems" said Nova after Valla asked how they were supposed to find what they searched for. "Shouldn't be too hard—even though the GPS flopped on its face the rest of my 2500s tech works just fine!"


	19. Bear Grills

**Chapter 19 – Bear Grills**

Li Li found herself offered some instant stir-fry in lieu of fish cakes. After tasting it, she had to wonder how this could qualify as food, but she thought it best not to complain.

"Believe me" said her escort/minder, "there are far worse in company cafeterias than this!"

"What's the big deal?" asked Li Li. She tilted her head in confusion. "It's not like there's anything wrong with me or the others." She paused, before adding (with some hesitation), "Right?"

Unlike WET, Duran Bowder was far more sociable. He chuckled a bit before answering.

"Strictly speaking, there's nothing 'wrong' with the fact that plastic has become flesh, the fictional has become real. After all, that's what SPEAR does—dealing in the paranormal and technologies this world cannot handle. Something similar to this organization has been around for millennia as this world is far less beholden to the laws of established science than those in charge would have people believe."

"Wait. So the magic we experienced isn't unique?" Li Li's eyes widened.

"Well, we don't call it magic" laughed Bowder. "The official term is 'functional supernatural phenomenon'—something we cannot explain but has repeatable, verifiable properties. This afternoon, we're going to be seeing if the hypothesis is correct."

Despite her young age, Li Li could recognize when something was being held back on purpose.

"What hypothesis?" she demanded, a little brattier sounding than she'd meant to be.

"That you would be able to detect other FSPs like yourself. Or even non-sapient sources, like the chest."

Li Li's look said everything, and Bowder backpedaled.

"I know, I know it sounds ridiculous! But tell that to the scientists, not me!"

As a change of subject, Bowder offered limited information on the history of SPEAR and items related to its goals. These included (among others) the Salem "witch hunts," a good portion of the Catholic Church, early-20th-century organized whaling, and the entire feudal system used during the Middle Ages.

"All of these served as a means to an end—to keep the world unaware of what to them represented witchcraft, sorcery, or simply power the human race was not ready for."

"And who made you guys the boss of the world?" Li Li gave her best stink-eye.

Bowder's joviality vanished. "That is not something I am able to discuss."

[…]

Heroes not named Li Li, Nova, and Valla gathered again. Since the "smash and grab," no further incursions against their residence occurred. Much to his dismay, this lack of invasions meant many of Gazlowe's traps were dismantled "because I'm tired of stepping around them" complained the player after yet another sore foot.

"No fancy radios" griped Jim Raynor, "so I guess we'll just have to wait until they come back. Can't just patch them through _Hyperion_ …"

For once, the usually-chipper Jaina sounded almost distraught. "Hopefully, Nova will be able to figure out exactly why they kidnapped Li Li. I can't imagine for the life of me what use that might have!"

"Oh, come now, Jaina!" scolded Malfurion. "Even though, apparently, our lives were mere stories to these people, you understand that objects of great power are often desired, fought over, and surrounded by subterfuge…"

"I do not think taking Li Li was the goal either" added Johanna. "I believe the target was the chest, and somehow, she ended up inside at the time when it was taken."

"They wanted two things" hissed Sylvanas. "They did not say what those were, but it surprises me that for all the effort they went through, no further attempts have been made considering the chest is _one_ thing."

Several Heroes responded at once with variations of "Don't even go there." Sylvanas went back to sulking in the corner.


	20. I'm Sorry Valla, I Can't Do That

**Chapter 20 – I'm Sorry Valla, I Can't Do That**

"Based on what I've read, this is a university computing facility" said Nova to Valla, concealed in the shadows of a corner table of sorts. "Unless they're super paranoid, that means there aren't going to be laser turrets, death walls, or poison gas!"

Valla didn't quite understand some of the words, but what really confused her is that Nova sounded _excited_ about these things—even though two of three sounded very life-threatening.

"What is a 'laser turret?'" she asked.

"Not now!" hissed the Ghost. "I can explain the advanced technology from my time and, apparently, world, later."

"You said their absence is a positive development" pressed Valla. "So what are we not facing?"

Nova sighed like a teenager being forced to watch an annoying younger sibling. "It means we don't have to worry about being hit in the face with superheated energy."

The Demon Hunter didn't bother to ask about death walls or poison as the former seemed self-explanatory (though how a wall could cause death without demonic influence here eluded her) and she'd encountered plenty of the latter fighting in the Bastion's Keep larder.

"Are you okay?" Nova placed a hand on Valla's arm as the woman retched and coughed, only to have it shaken off.

"Some smells are best forgotten."

"This is the tricky part" replied Nova. "We don't have a map and GPS won't help us here. I can tell where the strongest energy concentration is—that should be the computers. They use a lot of power, both for processing and cooling."

More blank looks from Valla, who only had the most basic idea of what a "computer" was.

"Then let us find the most straightforward path!" cried Valla. "To the heart of this place!"

Nova's eyes rolled in irritation. "We can't just…"

"Why do you have me accompany you, if every time I make a suggestion, you elect to ignore it?" asked Valla, herself becoming irked at Nova's constant refusals to entertain anything she had to say since arriving at the facility.

Nova stuck her finger up and her eyes went wide.

" _Of course!_ I'm such an idiot! No facility, secure or not, has huge air vents that people can just crawl through. Except in holos, obviously, but this isn't a holo. And we're not regular people!"

After Nova explained her plan, Valla had to contain her skepticism, but prepped her crossbows anyway.

"We're going to have to find somewhere with fewer people, more noise, or both" said Nova. "Even though we're small, that doesn't make my sniper rifle inaudible to them."

"What about the water closets? Surely, people do not linger around them longer than necessary!" Valla readied herself to be shot down, again.

"That's actually a good idea!" replied Nova enthusiastically. "Usually, there are a bunch of air vents in there because, well, you know…"

"Indeed. Bodily functions produce foul stenches no matter the world. Come!"

Nova didn't quite understand why Valla was so suddenly confident in following a suited pair of legs, but she wasn't going to argue. The Ghost surmised they must have arrived at the tail end of the morning rush, as few others crossed paths with their unknowing "guide." Without warning, he broke into a sprint only to make a sharp left through a door whose symbol Nova recognized instantly.

"Hurry!"

 _It would help if you weren't many yards in front of me_ thought Valla angrily. Realizing the risk but not caring, she fired her crossbow at the closing door. The bolt stuck, trailing a rope behind which rapidly retracted, yanking Valla toward her destination.

 _Strange devices, but then, the Templar were always kidnapping people from castle towers._

The Demon Hunter didn't notice her scarf tear off as the door closed behind her.

Nova shouldered her rifle, disabling its laser sight and using its scope as a visual aid.

"Aha! There!"

A loud, wet noise made both women jump.

"Now's your chance!" yelled Valla more loudly than was prudent.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

Three shots. Three bolts obliterated, leaving an air-vent cover with only a single fastener. Valla tossed one of her crossbows to Nova, silently willing that the Ghost would both not break it and return it in working order. Two arrows embedded themselves in ceiling tiles, pulling the little Heroes up toward an air vent. Valla secured her line around her waist, tossing her second crossbow to Nova. For what felt an eternity (but was more like two seconds) Nova lined up her shot with a primitive, scopeless weapon.

"How medieval" she muttered, letting loose another bolt. Her aim was true, burying the nose of a grappling arrow deep in the vent cover kitty-corner from the last remaining bolt. A slight retraction bent it outward, hopefully enough that they could both squeeze through.

Nova aimed, but missed as her throw came up short. Lightning-fast, Valla grabbed the trailing line instead before detaching herself from the ceiling. Unfortunately for her, physics asserted itself and she gained momentum before swinging into the wall beneath their intended target.

"Huh?" boomed a voice from below. More unpleasant noises. Valla gagged at the memory of fighting Ghom as both sound and smell brought back memories she preferred to keep buried.

Hurriedly, the Demon Hunter pulled herself up between wall and grate, retrieved her weapon, and began crawling. Again.

The last thing the two Heroes heard as they left a men's bathroom through its climate-control vent were sounds of satisfaction followed by a flush.


	21. Job Interview

**Chapter 21 – Job Interview**

More than one of the five researchers assembled in Room 1-138 felt nervous. Not because of any imminent danger (far more threatening items had come through) but because of the sheer _weirdness_ of it. Considering they worked for an organization where "paranormal" generally rated as "just a typical day at the office," that was really saying something. Armed with a battery of questions, they would now direct them at a child-sized talking panda that seemed to have stepped out of "World of Warcraft."

"You know" said one "I feel like this is what would happen if Phil Coulson finally saw something that fazed him."

Chuckles all around. The similarities between comic-book/television S.H.I.E.L.D. and real-world SPEAR were hard to pass up. Still, there had been no alien incursions in recent memory, or, as SPEAR officially dubbed them, "Offworld Contact Events."

"Do you think she's an OCE?"

Dr. Laura Kraft, PhD (Archeology), couldn't resist the opportunity.

"May, just because you want to test your judo or whatever on an alien doesn't mean…"

"First off, it's karate" corrected Dr. May Linda, herself a PhD holder in several fields with names too long for those unversed to pronounce or understand. "Second, it's still possible."

"I'd bet the chances of that are less than Jóse not killing another ship load of characters in his latest work" sniped Dr. Bruce Wane, PhD in materials science.

"And you said you don't read that stuff" jibed Dr. James Arbat. "Liar!"

"I win" grinned Dr. Jóse Fedón. "Pay up!"

Kraft reluctantly handed Fedón ten dollars while Wane turned slightly red.

"If you're quite finished, I'm here with your interviewee."

Li Li gave Bokat-Anne a nasty look. She hadn't minded Duran Bowder, even though he couldn't answer all her questions. Even though Vizsla hadn't done anything else unpleasant since the kidnapping, being kidnapped didn't tend to create a groundswell of goodwill. Handed off from the usually-kind Bowder to the all-business Bokat-Anne, Li Li found herself handcuffed and dragged off to who-knew-where.

It appeared Bowder had been dead-on, a panel of very official-looking persons sat before her.

She had heard stories about people seeking advanced education being forced to sit in front of panels like this for some reason. She wouldn't be defending anything, she didn't think.

"State your name, please."

She read the name panels in front of each questioner.

"Are you all the stuffy types that want to be called 'doctor' all the time?"

"If you put twenty years of your life into your education from start to finish, you'd be 'stuffy' about it too" replied Dr. Kraft.

Li Li silently conceded they might have a point. After all, she recalled her uncle Chen being very proud of his title of Brewmaster.

"So whaddaya wanna know? Not that there's much to tell…"

The pandaren sat down at a large table. She could see her name, the whole name (not just "Li Li" which is what the other Heroes tended to call her) on a placard.

"Li Li Stormstout, surely you understand the importance of observing the formalities of such occasions" scolded Dr. Fedón, though she could see a small smile playing at the edges of his lips.

"What's the big deal?" she blurted. "Does your world not have…" She stopped, remembering her conversations with Bowder.

"Well, we do" said Wane. "But not openly. The fact that you, a being that in this world is considered a work of fiction, are sitting here speaking to us means that we have encountered a new form of, I'm sure you've heard the term, functional supernatural phenomena."

"We did speak with Bowder after you were brought here. He may have told you a little more than he was supposed to…" hinted Arbat.

"This is where you tell me everything else, right?" She grinned.

"Dr. Arbat, must you?" sighed Linda. "I keep forgetting telling stories was your craft in undergrad."

"Undergrad!" barked Kraft. "So long ago, and so much less stressful than what follows. And we all thought it was hard…"

"If we are to gain your trust" continued Arbat, ignoring Dr. Linda's jibe, "I propose we are more open with you than we ordinarily would be. Especially since we are asking you to work for us."

A short conversation followed, conducted in whispers that even Li Li's pandaren ears could not pick up. For an "interrogation" it seemed more like the reverse—with her asking questions and them answering. She learned that an institution called the "Catholic Church" had at one point zealously suppressed belief in the supernatural. In fact, some acts it dubbed "miracles" were actually FSPs, while others were mere rumor—how better to hide a needle than in a stack of needles?

"Yes, some of what you call 'flying machines' tended to disappear in the Bermuda Triangle—there's a reason, though even we aren't quite sure why other than it's a FSP" laughed Dr. James-Johnson Arbat. "Great fodder for films!"

In the end, Li Li felt quite confident she'd be able to take SPEAR's message to the other Heroes successfully. Her curiosity ended up being an unexpected asset—after all, when you study FSPs day in and day out, it became easy to lose track of what might interest the uninformed.

"And…what about them?" she asked. "They're kinda…small."

"We'll see to it they are scaled up."

Her interview done, Li Li found herself taken away, though this time Vizsla did not see fit to slap handcuffs on her.

A world away, instead of _Heroes of the Storm_ , the possessor-of-printed-Heroes arranged a visit to a company called "Nexus Forge."


	22. Black Sheep Wall

**Chapter 22 – Black Sheep Wall**

"The computer room must be this way! It's getting cold in here…" Nova shivered. The version of her Hostile Environment Suit brought into this "Nexus" wasn't sealed at the top without its helmet, so even if her limbs were warm, her head was not.

"What about your technology?" asked Valla. "You said you could track the energy usage of these machines."

"That too" replied the Ghost. "Once we get there, you'll need to keep a watch. I'll cut the hard lines, and…"

A large number of long words that made no sense to Valla tumbled out of Nova's mouth.

"Got it?" Nova looked over expectantly.

"I…yes. I 'got it.'"

The roar of cooling fans handily masked any sound from the Heroes breaking their way out of an air vent. Thankfully, said vent opened onto the data center floor.

"Cold aisle!" explained Nova. "If you want to deploy nanoprobes into a computer system, contaminate the cold aisle and let airflow do the work for you!"

Again, Valla remained silent.

"Time to drop the Black Sheep Wall!"

"I doubt I will understand what that is" said the Demon Hunter. "But I am sensing you will explain it anyway…"

"It's a special computer program. It keeps the security occupied with legitimate-looking tasks while the actual infiltrator sneaks in."

"Like using villagers as demon bait, before slaughtering them!" exclaimed Valla, vicious excitement lighting her normally-dour features. "The demons, that is." Nova wrinkled her nose at the thought, but agreed.

"By the time they notice what I'm doing, we'll be out of here. Now, to arrange these interpreters…"

Valla wasn't sure what she was supposed to be on the lookout for. For one, the noise of the place meant hearing anything approach would be difficult at best. She also swore the bluish glow from these computers were interfering with her low-light vision.

"I might be more effective if I could borrow those goggles of yours" she shouted, as Nova was tinkering with something on the other side of the server rack.

"What?" bellowed the Ghost. "If you want to talk to me, come over here!"

"Oh, forget it" muttered Valla. She started counting. By the time she reached 666, Nova called out.

"Done! And you won't believe what I think I've found…"

[…]

Li Li prepared to step out of a large black SUV that brought her from wherever she'd been taken back to the place she first became conscious in. She didn't know what she'd say, especially to Jake the dog considering she was quite a bit larger. The vehicle swept away, leaving her standing awkwardly in the street. Guessing it prudent to minimize exposure, she headed toward the entrance, the very same one the Heroes had bombarded with traps.

A soft "fwup" as the player dropped clothes being taken to the cleaners. Hands to eyes, rub, rub, rub. Pinch own arm, kick own ankle.

"OW!"

"Hey! I'm back!"

"Back. From where?" demanded the player, not towering over Li Li nearly as much, though the pandaren still rated "child-sized" even by human standards.

"I'll tell you, but not out here!"

"Tell everyone else" came the reply. "I have to get these to the cleaners' before the evening rush really gunks up traffic!" A key was hurriedly jammed in, turned, and the door opened. Li Li found herself shoved inside as the player took off.

Li Li locked the door.

"Guys? Is anyone here?"

Something caused her to look down at her left paw, on which Sylvanas was standing.

"What happened to you?" demanded the elf.

"Well, other than being bigger, a lot!" chirped Li Li. "There's a whole organization out there! Its goal is to keep stuff like us from alarming everyone."

"They smashed their way in here!" protested Johanna. "That can hardly be called…"

"Honestly?" retorted the pandaren, "Based on what they said, there are far worse things out there."

Several Heroes of greater age and experience (at least in their own universes) had to restrain themselves from jumping down Li Li's throat for naiveté.

"I bet I'd get straighter answers from UNN and that blowhard Donny Vermillion, but we gotta hear this" conceded Raynor. "Start from the top!"


	23. Too Easy

**Chapter 23 – Too Easy**

"Well, this sucks" fumed Nova. She could see her rifle, along with Valla's crossbows, in a cup holder to the left of whatever enclosed her and the Demon Hunter in separate cells. A small scrap of red cloth draped over the assembled weapons.

Bokat-Anne Vizsla spoke into her hands-free as she drove.

"I've got them. The spotters were correct—tracing photos posted to sites that don't strip EXIF data and looking for unusual network anomalies led us right to them. That we let their infiltration program in long enough to get a reasonable guess at its geographic location helped too."

Valla suspected the tirade from Nova had to be curses. Whoever had them seemed to be paying them no attention, though.

"That was a calculated risk" conceded a defeated Ghost. "In order to make my software run on their systems, I had to use a legacy mode that made it far more obvious than it should've been."

In a final indignity, Valla became keenly aware that their container had a handle on the top, through which a large hand threaded itself. She could see the woman carrying them had shoulder-cropped red hair, but not much else in the rapidly fading light.

A blanket was thrown over the otherwise-transparent box, preventing either from seeing anything. It was thick enough to foil Nova's thermal imaging as well. After some passage of time, Valla found herself facing a bright light.

"Walk into it" said a commanding female voice. "Toward the light, out of the box."

Valla said nothing and sat, refusing to move. She felt something hard pressing against her back, only to turn and realize the entire rear wall was pushing her.

"Fine, we can do this the hard way." The same voice. The box tipped forward and its back kept moving. The Demon Hunter flopped into an undignified pile inside some kind of huge transparent cylinder.

"For saying you're so sneaky" the voice taunted, "you sure left a trail." The strip of cloth she wore waved in her face. "Oh, and just because your arrows are small doesn't mean they don't leave holes." The grate from the water closet and a ceiling tile were set before her.

"You kidnap my friend, steal from my dwelling, and taunt me. You are making very dangerous mistakes!"

Valla's eyes glowed a hellish yellow, but, being only fourteen inches tall, they were pinpricks. The other woman laughed at her.

"Even after we embiggerate you, you'll do as we say anyway. It doesn't matter!"

"How in the Burning Hells do you think you'll make me do your bidding? How, also in the Burning Hells, are you going to make use of me at this size, anyway?"

"Listening must not be a core Demon Hunter skill" shot back Bokat-Anne. "I said, once we make you bigger, you'll be quite an asset."

"No" replied Valla, "you said 'embiggerate,' which to me sounds like a child stumbling over proper language!"

Valla suddenly felt quite thirsty before she realized how dry it was in, well, whatever she was trapped in. Which was much larger than her.

A hand waved, pointing in a direction away from her prison. She saw the relationship between herself and the enclosure changing, though judging by what was going on outside she was getting taller while everything around her remained the same.

 _I have not been this thirsty since Mount Arreat. And not for blood!_

She briefly wondered what Nova might be experiencing before getting a strange feeling that someone else she knew had already been here. The transparent walls retracted with a horrible screeching noise, leaving Valla standing. This was a good thing, as her armored shoulders barely had any clearance inside the tube. In fact, she figured the sound had been her pauldrons scraping against what she figured was glass. Good.

Bokat-Anne had the slightest feeling of regret for trolling Valla, if only because the other woman appeared to be at least 5'10".

Valla couldn't believe how idiotic these people seemed—mocking her, threatening her, and then making her more powerful. How foolish. She looked forward to turning this red-haired annoyance into just so much paste. But first, water. She gulped a conveniently-placed nearby red cup empty, then demanded more.

"Yes, of course. But first, the tour…"


	24. Who, What, Where, When, Why

**Chapter 24 – Who, What, Where, When, Why**

"Who the hell are they to say what this world is ready for?" thundered Jim Raynor after Li Li finished explaining what, exactly, this "Strategic Prevention, Extraction, and Ablation Regiment" was all about. "What happened to letting people think for themselves?"

"Bowder told me the time called the 'feudal age' happened because of problems with magic…" said Li Li. That was one of the things nobody, not even the scientist panel, had explained in more detail.

"So what? A few people do something stupid, and the rest of society pays for it?" retorted Raynor.

"To be fair" cautioned Johanna, "we do not know anything about these 'problems' she speaks of. You are right, it could be a flimsy cover for authoritarian rule, but it is equally possible that something we don't understand happened."

Kerrigan grinned nastily. "I can only imagine what kind of terrifying creatures I could create or command if I was returned to a normal human size."

Li Li threw out a pawful of powder. Reeling, several Heroes caught in it sputtered in protest. Like clockwork, the effect abated after exactly two seconds.

"So, yeah. All the things you used to do still work!"

Annoyed, Sylvanas loosed an arrow, only to see it deflect harmlessly off Li Li's fur. Diablo's fire stomp likewise did very little.

"Uhh, guys? What's the point of that?" asked the confused pandaren.

"This world will be destroyed when I am my proper size!" snarled Sylvanas. "At least if anything I saw about those here who impersonate me at 'conventions' is true!"

"Why?" protested Li Li. "They all seem to like you!"

Li Li had to get a quick lesson in certain things youngsters tended to not hear about at her age.

"Being a grown man doesn't make them any better" said Kerrigan afterward. "He's still a pig! To this day, I catch him staring at my thorax…"

Raynor had made himself scarce by then.

"There are a few flaws in this plan" interrupted Jaina. "First, it assumes that we are all exposed to the same magic that made Li Li her proper size. Based on what she's said about this 'SPEAR' I do not believe they will be lining us up to…embigger…us."

"Now, I know Jaina's probably going to go on about trying to talk to them" added Gazlowe, "but these people sound pretty set in their ways. As dedicated to them as I am to, well, exploding things…"

"Surely, as a businessman, you understand the value of playing one side off another" countered Sylvanas, perking up slightly. "That isn't just a military concept."

"How are we sure we'd be able to speak to each side independently?" Johanna agreed with Sylvanas (a rarity considering what she knew of the undead elf's attitude). "This is all strictly a thought exercise, anyway. Let us return to more practical pursuits!"

"I for one am grateful we will not face the smell" offered Sonya as a change of subject. "I suspect it would be possible to win a battle through stench alone."

After a significant amount of CAD work, the Hero-producing machine had begun producing parts for the Elite Tauren Chieftain, or "ETC" as he was known in short-hand. Considering Sonya herself, the others fully expected that the cow-man would have been thrown into the chest…except said chest was gone. Thus meaning the likelihood of tauren smell was precisely zero.


	25. Compliance Will Be Rewarded

**Chapter 25 – Compliance Will Be Rewarded**

Valla found herself following Bokat-Anne. She didn't know why, as every fiber of conscious thought screamed "STOP!" but her body would not obey. Her boots placed themselves one in front of the other, her arms held resolutely at her sides, her shoulders squared off. Valla felt like one of the many hapless villagers she'd freed in her years hunting demons—hands and feet bound, gagged, unable to move, only struggle.

"Here are your crossbows…"

Vicious glee raced through Valla's mind as she prepared to put two arrows through Bokat-Anne's head. Except no matter how bright her hatred burned, her arms remained extended at her sides, albeit now holding her weapons of choice.

Vizsla noted a slight twitch in her newest agent's right eye as blue turned briefly back to yellow. Her arm jerked. Would she break through? No! They subsided in less than a second.

"…but of course" she continued "we have more, ahem, timely options should you wish them."

Despite being imprisoned in her own mind, Valla could appreciate what lay on a table before her. It had to be almost as long as she was tall, and resembled Nova's rifle…except bigger. In fact, Nova's rifle sat on another table, and had nothing on this whose barrel seemed twice as thick and was definitely longer.

"Ah, so you do appreciate us. Or, at least our hardware" said Bokat-Anne in a mildly teasing voice. "The 25mm MR-7 Block 2. Also known as 'Merida.'"

Gunpowder had no place in Sanctuary or its surrounding locales. Likely due to demons hurling fireballs that tended to set off stored munitions to the detriment of nearby users. And, frankly, the incompetence of people who were used to non-explosive means of propelling attacks. More than one person had to be reminded multiple times that working in firearms depots by candlelight was _strictly prohibited_. Why bother with this utter pain when magic could do all of what guns offered and more, without any downsides?

Valla's lips moved, asking the same question she was thinking even though she had not willed it. "What amount of explosive is needed to work this?"

Vizsla laughed again. "You are behind the times, Demon Hunter. This is a magnetic railgun. Maximum range of 4500 meters—which is as far as you're going to get without ballistics. No need for explosive propellant. It also uses magnets to compensate for recoil."

Seeing Valla looking at her crossbows, she added "You can use two…but only if you're prone and have the Synchronized Control Targeter."

[…]

The handlers responsible for Nova Terra had an entirely different experience. Far less hostile, but not for good reasons as their charge lay whimpering on the floor.

"Look ahead by forgetting…look ahead by forgetting…"

She, too, had been quite thirsty after being embiggered. Like Valla, she'd taken offered water without question, but upon imbibing it she collapsed. Some wished they were all as compliant as Li Li, with no need to nudge these beings along, but no such luck. Besides, if the eggheads had their way, SPEAR would spend all its time talking and none of its time _doing_.

"Oh, great" huffed Jeff Gordon. "We get ourselves an operative and she turns out…damaged?"

"You obviously don't use the internet" shot back one of his co-handlers. "Have you even _seen_ the horrible stuff written into this character's backstory?"

"So?" replied Gordon, unconvinced. "Just because that's what some writer had in mind doesn't mean…"

"You didn't read the notes we sent _or_ watch the Li Li Tape, did you?" snapped Dr. Laura Kraft, present to observe. "This FSP manifests itself in living replications of characters from a video game, and these characters, as far as we can tell, _retain all their memories from their own universe_. It is as if they were real people, simply transported to our world instead of their own!"

Gordon pulled up an article on "November Annabella Terra" on his tablet. What he quickly scanned made him even less sympathetic.

"She's a supersoldier." He walked over to the prone Ghost. "So why aren't you acting like one?" he barked contemptuously to the stricken woman. "On your feet!"

"You WETs have no hearts. You're horrible!" cried Dr. Kraft.

"And all you science types do is sit around talking! The Roman Empire…"

"Oh don't drag up that tripe again" snapped Kraft. "Every time we question your actions, we're told we're the Romans. Again! Don't you have anything else? Oh, wait, creativity isn't something you types encourage."

After several minutes of no improvement, Gordon finally ordered that "someone take this sniveling wretch off to the psych wing, see what the hell is wrong with her."

Kraft rapidly tapped a report into her own tablet. Even though it felt useless, she would fire off yet another complaint about WET and their tactics.


	26. Strike Fear

**Chapter 26 – Strike Fear**

"What's buggin' me is that Nova and Valla were supposed to be back by now. We gotta go find them."

Li Li didn't like Raynor's idea.

"If these people are as powerful as they sound, I bet they were captured."

"Young one, have faith!" consoled Malfurion. "Between their abilities and experience, I doubt they would be so easily found."

"Now, I'd like to agree with Malf here" ventured Raynor. "But I got a gut feelin' that things aren't going well for us, even if we don't know it yet."

"There is also the small matter of us" continued Johanna. "While the pandaren is of the correct proportions to battle the humans of this realm, we are not! And as we saw, without surprise on our side we cannot hope to fight them."

"Stand together, or fall alone."

Heads twisted. Jim initially thought Kerrigan to be the source, but no, she was silent. Instead, it had been Sylvanas who had spoken.

"I was the last one to fall. Everyone died around me as Arthas gloated. Whoever these bastards are, let us not face them one-by-one. We may be small, but we will not give up!"

Raynor couldn't believe his ears. The only words he remembered from that weird-smelling blue elf were taunts, threats, and general bad-mannered-ness. Where this new attitude came from, he had no idea. So he discreetly turned to Jaina.

"I suspect it has something to do with her arm" replied the sorceress. Jaina thought for a moment before speaking, but realizing it might be the best option opted to go for it anyway.

"You all recall sufficiently lethal forces cause any of us to reappear in the chest."

Head nods. Then shakes as other Heroes realized where Jaina was going with this.

"What if we all mass-respawned? It would get us to where the chest is."

"And that assumes the chest is where we want to go!" said Gazlowe loudly. "Who says it's even in the same place as our friends?"

"Well it's a damned better idea than sitting around here" snapped Raynor. "Though, I do wonder if that magic has, you know, a range-limit like thing…"

A raucous argument broke out, which only ended when Johanna slammed her shield into the countertop repeatedly. Several Heroes glared at the resulting gouges in the counter, as if this were the most important issue.

"We should vote on this" she thundered. "All in favor?"

Most hands went up.

"All opposed?"

A smattering.

"Now, what's the best way to kill ourselves?" The Crusader could barely believe she'd said something so ridiculous, but here they were. Nobody noticed Li Li had disappeared until she came back with the drone-controller in hand, battery meter at 100%.

"How 'bout this?"

The gathering darkness made it easy. With their large roommate gone ("Hopefully the traffic is bad" added Raynor), using the drone to haul Heroes to a definite-kill height would be simple. About to ask who would volunteer, Johanna found Sylvanas already sitting on the QuadMaster, looking as if she dared anyone else to challenge her.

Nobody made a move.

Outside they went, and up buzzed the QuadMaster with an undead elf on its back. The wind whipped through Sylvanas' dirty-blonde hair. Her existence had been painful enough, though the Nexus made things a tiny bit better by removing the asinine politics plaguing Azeroth from her life (not that it didn't play out on the battlefields, but its form was much more limited). Then she came to _this_ world.

"Have fun with the dagger" she whispered, facing Li Li's direction before jumping. "There is no rest left for me!"

A sickening crunch as an undead body collided with concrete.

Then…blue mist.

Raynor shouted down the cheering that resulted, as although they were consummately softer by virtue of being smaller it wasn't impossible to be heard on this quiet street.

To save battery, Li Li cut the drone's power and caught it rather than landing it normally. Hero after Hero jumped from a great height (relative to their own), higher than some nearby residences built to human scale. Some whooped and yelled, while others stepped silently to their "doom."

As the last Hero (Johanna) made the plunge, Li Li wondered what she would do afterward. She wasn't going to try this on _herself_ since she couldn't use the drone and she didn't know if the rules were the same now that she'd been made far larger.


	27. Broken

**Chapter 27 – Broken**

"What do we have this time?" asked Doctor of Medicine (distinguished from the many other types of doctor around these facilities) Jason Berenson. "Torture?"

"Very nearly" sniffed Dr. Laura Kraft, who had accompanied the medivac team to serve as a direct witness to events that brought the patient here in the first place. "WET was having fun with their artifacts again."

Dr. Berenson sighed. Though WET had a definite purpose within SPEAR, their methods struck those outside that division as a bit…unorthodox. Some would say brutal, but others argued they were simply the ones willing to go the distance and do what was necessary to protect the world from itself.

"I'm not going to yell at you for not knowing what's going on" said Kraft, handing over her tablet. "Here's what got Nova Terra to this sorry state."

Berenson's face went from expressionless to confused, and finally settled on shocked.

" _That's_ what this whole thing I heard about some chest 0-10-4 is all about? Turning plastic models into real people, who have the memories of the characters they were in some game?"

Kraft chuckled. "We work for an organization whose predecessor oversaw industrial whaling as a cover operation in the name of world stability, and _this_ shocks you?"

"Well, yeah" said Berenson. "I mean, there has been some weird stuff at this place, but they weren't kidding when they said this 0-10-4 is off-the-charts!"

Berenson, as a general practitioner, checked Nova for signs of physical trauma. Not finding any, and seeing as all her vitals suggested she was in very good shape fitness-wise, he sent her off to the psychologists who would evaluate her further.

"It seems the creation of yet another unholy thrall has caused more issues. Shocking." Dr. Kara Grimes might well have been describing breakfast. "Based on what limited inferences I can make from the character backstory" (she put down a copy of "StarCraft: Ghost: Nova"), "that infernal liquid brought forward every traumatic memory this woman ever experienced. It did not accomplish its intended effect, though—the patient's eyes are not the typical color seen after successful administration of Faustus Serum."

Kraft moved as if to speak, but was preemptively cut off.

"Yes, Kraft, this FSP is more powerful than the technobabble from Nova's universe. _Far_ more powerful."

"So you're going to deny WET their new operative, I hope?" asked Kraft.

"On paper. But you know what happens when WET doesn't get something they want. They flood upper management with requests, explaining in sixty different ways why our denials are wrong and will 'lead to another Rome.' Management doesn't want that, so they usually play along."

"How in the hell is she supposed to function as, whatever it is they want, when she can barely stand?" Kraft couldn't believe how low WET had sunk this time. She'd even heard rumors a kill order had been put out for the private citizen who originally held the 0-10-4 but couldn't get any confirmation. WET "bandits," indeed!

Nova's condition was so severe, remarked Grimes in her journal, that a psych student could spend five minutes with her, diagnose her with extreme PTSD, and be dead-on. Mind-wipes always left echoes, though they were often too deep to recover without use of psychedelic drugs. WET's (mis)use of another 0-10-4 to induce obedience dragged up everything Nova Terra would rather forget, and hit her all at once. That said, she did seem to be getting better, if only a little, as the shock wore off and she was able to regain understanding of where she was.

"These are just memories" said Grimes soothingly as her patient finally began to stammer out coherent words. "None of it is real. Stay in the now."

Nova lasted about twenty minutes before it was decided to let her sleep. To speak WET's language, she was classified as "Mission Incapable, Combat Ineffective." Of course, that came with the presumption she would eventually become "Mission Ready" and "Hyper-Lethal" but that would be able to be stalled for at least several weeks under the guise of learning more about Nova's equipment.

A/N: I in no way condone real-life whaling, "scientific" or otherwise. But you're reading about living _Heroes of the Storm_ characters, so not everything in this world mirrors the one we live in…


	28. R-R-R-espawn!

**Chapter 28 – R-R-R-espawn!**

"Ooof!"

"You are twisting my ears. Desist, or you will regret your failure!"

"Sonya, you're crushing me with your rock-hard butt!"

Raynor was about to try to calm everyone down when the massive pile of Heroes spilled out of the chest on its own.

"Alright, people! Our first order of business is to find that 'embiggering' device so we can give these guys some of their own medicine. Any ideas?"

A much quieter, more civilized debate commenced. Unfortunately, given that nobody knew where they'd gotten themselves to, the conclusion was essentially "anything is better than standing here, but nobody has any ideas of what to do instead."

Raynor sat down in frustration.

" _James Raynor…"_

He heard a voice, except it wasn't through his ears.

" _James Eugene Raynor_ …"

About to turn to Kerrigan and chastise her for playing games, he realized it wasn't Sarah's voice at all.

" _Jim, you're my only hope…_ "

 _Damn. Well, this is new_ he thought.

He turned to Kerrigan anyway. Whoever set up this "Nexus" thing made sure it wasn't the old, kill-everything-that-moves Queen of Blades version of Sarah Kerrigan despite her relatively zerg appearance, and for that he was very grateful (though she did tend to enjoy the matches a little too much).

"You getting any psychic messages, darlin'?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was going to blame you for playing games with my head, but it's not your voice. It's Nova."

"Well" huffed Kerrigan, slightly amused, "if she wants to try to steal you from me again, she's going to regret it!"

"Now, now, calm down, Sarah. It's not that. Actually, you might like it…"

"Why? Is she on her knees, begging for forgiveness for serving that power-hungry bastard Mengsk?"

"Well, I don't know about the knees part. Or the apologizing for followin' the orders of a tyrant part. But she is asking for help."

Even Kerrigan had to admit the Nova she fought in the Nexus was… _happier_ than the Nova she remembered. Sassy, even _flirty_. Not qualities associated with any Ghost, except possibly Kerrigan herself (and then only with Raynor). Nova made no bones about what she was doing—she worked for the "big bucks" though who was paying her remained a mystery, though it was universally accepted to be someone/thing other than the Terran Dominion.

Part of her wanted to leave Nova to rot in whatever hell she'd made for herself, but Sarah immediately quashed the thought. If Nova deserved to be punished, she, the former Queen of Blades, deserved far worse.

" _I don't know if you can hear me, and since you're not a telepath you cannot respond. They made me into a normal-size person. And I think Li Li was here before, wherever 'here' is._ "

Raynor suddenly clutched his head, toppling over with a thump from his heavy power armor.

"Argh!"

Kerrigan rushed to his side, and easily found out what had caused her friend to falter. She disliked Nova for many (often valid) reasons. However, even the old Queen of Blades would be shocked by what she'd gone through, and somehow, a tiny part of that life had been transferred with whatever she'd been saying.

She could sense Nova fading into unconsciousness, and reached through Raynor back to the other Ghost as quickly as she could.

 _This is Kerrigan. We will find you!_


	29. Happiness Is Slavery

**Chapter 29 – Happiness Is Slavery**

She wasn't sure what it was, a separate personality or just a body willing to follow external commands contrary to the desires of its consciousness, but Valla found herself doing exactly as ordered. She thus stood in an armory with the redheaded Bokat-Anne Vizsla.

The biggest difference between a crossbow (possibly infused with magic) and the MR-7 was the recoil. The shoulder-bruising recoil. Magnetic dampers made it better, but the laws of physics were not suspended in this case, and extended use was not recommended. Ironically, usage of the Synchronized Control Targeter actually _improved_ the recoil, as allowing one-handed operation (with a special stabilizing element holding both guns) necessitated drastically reducing each weapon's overall power.

Much to the amusement of Bokat-Anne, Valla _insisted_ on trying to fire the MR-7 standing. Only half-jokingly, Vizsla called in a standby medical team.

"You only avoided damage to your shoulder because you got thrown on your ass" laughed Bokat-Anne afterward. "With great power comes…great potential to be blown across the room by your own gun."

The Demon Hunter mentally reminded herself to mark this down as yet another reason to minimize gunpowder usage in her world, if she ever got back there. A blossoming bruise on her rear would also serve as a deterrent to trying such antics again.

The dissonance between her burning hatred of WET and, frankly, enjoyment of the equipment/training on offer drove her nuts. But if she couldn't control her own body and wasn't being made to harm anyone yet, why not have some fun?

Next came the bodysuit and light plate armor (no J117 heavy power armor, not yet anyway). Miniaturized power sources, often derived from 0-10-4s, let SPEAR (and thus, WET) build devices well beyond the capabilities of "the outside world," such as 'Merida' or the system Valla now wore. Said setup allowed her to retain her rapid battlefield movement while offering more protection than her previous garments.

[…]

Some might call it poor security—that the Heroes were able to track down Nova and after only minor sneaking get to her. Others would retort the new arrivals had everything in their favor in ways nobody, not even SPEAR, could have planned for (crawling through air ducts, mental links, FSP links). In the end, a sleepy Nova found herself roused by ten of her compatriots.

It was at this point Jim Raynor found out he'd been underutilizing his resources—as Brightwing seemed unfazed by the darkness.

"Wow…even with bed-hair, Brightwing thinks you still very pretty!"

"At least we never had Tychus" griped Nova. "He'd have a field day—he's always imagining me with my armor off…"

"So you don't wear your armor everywhere, then" said Johanna, sounding slightly surprised.

"And you do?"

"If you lived in a world where demons could come bursting through the wall at any moment due to incompetent leaders letting the forces of hell fester, you would wear your combat gear as often as possible."

"Armor? You call that armor?" snarked Kerrigan. "You're the most fragile person I've…"

She stopped her line of comment, seamlessly using her greater psionic powers to switch tracks before inadvertently reducing Nova to a blubbering mess.

"…ever seen pack such a nasty punch" she finished.

"Do you know anything about the device that made you bigger?" asked Malfurion. "The more we find out, the easier it will be to take the fight to these people of ill repute!"

"Well, it exists…"

Brightwing's glow caught unwanted attention as an orderly, assigned to do rounds, peeked his head in. Seeing it, he hit an alarm, causing the room's lights to come back to maximum and several full-3D images to be taken of the scene in fractions of a second.

"Paging Dr. Grimes, paging Dr. Grimes, we have an anomaly in room AA23!"

Grimes, herself roused from slumber, was still yawning as she complained that "this better be something really important to drag me out of bed at this hour!"

Upon seeing her patient surrounded by almost a dozen small _things_ that appeared to be people (or in some cases, creatures) her attitude immediately changed. One keystroke cancelled the alarm. Another blamed it on a "system malfunction." She manually deleted all holos taken before they could be backed up or archived. Finally, she turned to the orderly.

"I'm sorry Jenkins, but I'm going to put this blame on you. I'll explain later. Just go! Take my badge back to my quarters and have the rest of the night off."

Closing the door, drawing the privacy shade, and speaking in whispers, Kara Grimes couldn't believe her luck. If she and others suspicious of WET wanted to undermine them from the inside, these newcomers might be the best way to do it. Nova even seemed far less burdened by her memories in the presence of these, acquaintances? Friends? She wasn't sure—though it was very intriguing to see that the cafeteria talk of "other little characters" wasn't just more WET saber-rattling.

"As you can probably guess, I'm not supposed to be here, at least not beyond checking the alarm, which I got rid of. Hopefully, I can tell you everything I know and what we're trying to do without anyone catching on…"


	30. Vengeance, Treason, and Plot

**Chapter 30 – Vengeance, Treason, and Plot**

"I take it we're supposed to talk in whispers and sweep for bugs now?" asked Raynor.

"Well, these rooms can be fully recorded if necessary, but due to patient privacy said recording systems can also be entirely disabled—as they are now" replied Dr. Grimes. "As you can probably guess from Nova here, the people running this facility…"

"Now hold on a minute" interrupted Raynor. "How do we know we can trust you?"

Murmurs of assent from other Heroes.

"She has taken several actions that suggest she wishes to conceal our presence here" said Johanna rather loudly. "If there are indeed two factions, as we were led to believe, I do not think she would have done so were her loyalties with WET."

"WET is the reason Nova is…like this" whispered Grimes. "They are using Faustus Serum on newly-enlarged Heroes, and I believe it failed rather spectacularly in this particular case. It resurfaced every traumatic memory Nova ever buried, and the serum's effect didn't take hold."

"What is the purpose of Faustus Serum?" asked Jaina.

"Mind control. The worst part is that the person can tell they don't control their own body anymore, but are powerless to stop the effect" finished the doctor.

"Wait, so Li Li was under their control?" exploded Raynor. "Now how much do they know about us?"

"Despicable" spat Johanna. "Using one so young as a pawn!"

"I wasn't shown Li Li's records, but in our interviews with her she showed no signs of being influenced by Faustus."

Raynor wanted to believe Grimes, but filed this away anyway. They would have to keep close watch on Li Li, assuming they ever saw her again, anyway.

"Li Li told us about organizations that were trying to conceal the supernatural" said Raynor. "Seems this is just the latest, huh?"

"Those who believe in their ends strongly enough will justify any of their methods in pursuit of them" added Malfurion. "It appears this group is no different."

"Some of us" protested Dr. Grimes. "The science division has always been more concerned with the 'how' and the 'why' of functional supernatural phenomena than worrying about what impact they would have on the wider world, since everything's controlled in a lab. The Weaponized Extraction Team, on the other hand, seems to think that if even the slightest hint of the supernatural leaks out, the world will destroy itself. Again."

"Now, I'm not one of those idealistic young guys who thinks everyone's got an angel in them if you wait long enough—that's Matt's job—but they really outta give this world more credit" said Raynor. "And the whole mind-control thing obviously isn't good either."

"WET has a ton of advanced technology. You have to remember that even though SPEAR hasn't been around forever they aren't exactly new kids on the block. I believe the organization as we know it was created to study certain Nazi artifacts during and after World War II. In order to fight that…"

"You need something like it" said Johanna. "Like us."

"Except there's one problem. We're kind of too small for this" pouted Raynor.

"I can't help you there" conceded Dr. Grimes. "I'm a psychologist, not a researcher. You'd need someone like Kraft or Linda to access the embiggering equipment."

About to ask who these people were, the Heroes found themselves suddenly interrupted by a very familiar figure wearing unfamiliar clothing and carrying a strange weapon.


	31. Spam and Hacks

**Chapter 31 – Spam and Hacks**

"If any of you move, you will all be respawning."

Valla turned away from addressing the pile of Heroes, instead speaking to Bokat-Anne. "To answer your question, that is how they got here. They probably killed themselves, and due to the magic of the chest, they respawned in our facility."

"Your intuition is useful" remarked Bokat-Anne. Looking down at the Heroes around Nova, she added "Unlike in your worlds, we don't just ignore warnings that are sent out, then hastily retracted. That, in fact, makes us _more_ suspicious. But nice try."

Kara Grimes found the muzzle of Valla's huge weapon jammed in her back. "Move it. You are being taken into custody for conspiring with those who would expose our secrets. Also, filing false reports is technically a violation as well."

Kerrigan stood on Nova's shoulder, whispering a question that was not caught by the other full-size humans in the room.

"I do not recall Valla's eyes being bright blue. Is this normal?"

"No" replied Nova, a little too loudly.

"Quiet" snarled Vizsla. "Of course, whatever you're planning has no point. Bring in the cages!"

Realizing they'd been outwitted, most Heroes quietly accepted their present fate. Diablo and Johanna, however, fought back. On their scale, this was a mere annoyance to their captors, but…

A loud "THWACK" and both disappeared in flashes of blue. A smirking Valla added "Double kill!"

"You would never do this on your own" breathed Raynor. "What'd they do to you?"

"I have been enlightened. Your blind naiveté regarding the inhabitants of this world is inspiring, but foolish."

Inside her head, Valla was screaming, but she couldn't break whatever enchantment compelled her obedience and parroting of WET's lines.

"Ablation complete" noted Bokat-Anne in her log. "Now all we need to do is get that obnoxious human who created these _things_ in here—should be done next Monday since they think they're interviewing with 'Nexus Forge.' And round up the panda while we're at it."

Diablo and Johanna appeared where they expected to. Unfortunately for them, a transparent dome covered the spawn point and a large area around it.

"This is unacceptable!" growled the demon. He stomped fire repeatedly, only to see it dissipate harmlessly every time it came close to the edge of their prison. Johanna rolled her eyes, but to be honest she agreed with the red devil—imprisonment was not something she enjoyed.

"Do you have any ideas or are you just going to wear holes in the floor?" she snapped, letting her old rivalry show through.

Diablo charged into the surrounding barrier, predictably doing nothing.

"Ugh. Hellspawn… Like the Butcher and getting stuck behind doors!"

Bored, Diablo charged the Crusader, shield and all. He'd probably lose, but it was at least more entertaining than sitting around. Flipping her over his shoulder with a roar, he got ready to slam into her again, only to find the obnoxious Nephalem was no longer there. Or inside their enclosure.

Johanna peered inward toward the trapped Diablo. She remembered this sort of shenanigan happening on occasion in the Nexus—Diablo flinging his enemies out of the arena somehow, causing the whole game to run 4v5 for its duration. Cheap, dishonest, unsportsmanlike, and usually involving being suffocated by Anub'arak's web at the same time.

"And now, an opportunity…"

She turned, seeing a big pictogram showing a figure becoming much larger than it was. It appeared the chest and its cover had been placed in the same room as one of the 'embiggering' devices. Of course, the switch wasn't anywhere near the platform itself. No matter.

No loud announcement. No "embiggering device activated." It simply turned on after registering something standing on its central platform. What looked like an "on/off" switch even conveniently glowed green.

"May Akarat guide my hand!"

Her shield bounced off many things, but her target wasn't one of them. Lights came on at maximum brightness as her shield struck an illumination-control board. She swore Diablo was grinning, even stuck as he was under a transparent half-sphere. She tried again, and this time, it connected. A transparent cylinder shot toward the ceiling, enclosing her. The floor rushed away, and formerly-distant objects on counters seemed to become closer as Johanna reached her full height of six feet. A sudden crash, and the glass around her blew outward.

She looked down, left, and right.

"Really. They planned to make us our normal heights, but did not account for armor?"

Sighing, she slammed her fail into what two minutes ago trapped her. It cracked, then shattered under a second strike. She scooped up Diablo (he was _almost_ cute at this size) and placed him where she stood before.

"I do hope this machine works without…well, whatever that was."

Her question was answered by Diablo's head smashing through the machine's top, definitely putting it out of action. She estimated him to be at least ten feet from his massive claws to the top of his horned head.

"This lab shall burn!"

Unlike the last time, fireballs from the demon left scorch marks and ignited anything they touched, including a stack of notes and a trash can.

"Be careful" she scolded. "If there are more of these devices, we need them to work!"

Red lighting overtook the white as alarms blared.

"These people are probably more competent than those blind idiots at Bastion's Keep. Though if they weren't, I would not complain."


	32. Nephalem Battle

**Chapter 32 – Nephalem Battle**

"Pathetic!" roared Diablo, as a hypervelocity slug from Valla's MR-7 failed to do more than scratch his thick hide. "Your masters should pray to whatever puny gods they have that I do not reach them!"

Valla vaulted backward to avoid flames that sprung up around her massive opponent. Just in time to meet the back of Johanna's flung shield.

"Valla! Snap out of it!" bellowed Johanna. She backhanded the other woman across the face for emphasis, leaving nasty red welts behind from her heavy gloves. The Demon Hunter's eyes returned to their yellow, but the blue crept back in.

"I… I can't…"

"Fight it!"

"I…wish I could…"

THW-SPANG.

Another railgun shot ricocheted off Johanna's shield, bending the top of its embossed symbol.

"Freeze!"

Behind Valla, the pair could see a large number of tactically-dressed guards, wearing the same outfits the Heroes observed when the chest had been taken. Not knowing whether Valla (or indeed they) would survive a full-out battle, Johanna moved cautiously, staying in cover as much as she could. The new arrivals had no such compunctions and a storm of bullets traced her path. They met her shield, leaving divets but no holes (yet).

Several attackers were set aflame by a rampaging Diablo. One was slammed clear through a nearby wall. Johanna sent out a spinning hammer, aiming it for Valla's head.

"I'm sorry, friend…"

The Demon Hunter dropped like a sack of stones. In that time, Johanna became faintly aware of a growing whine, before an energy pulse crashed into her shield. Unlike mostly-harmless bullets spewed by guards, Bokat-Anne's blast melted a large semi-circular impact point into Johanna's trusty shield while a follow-up explosion knocked her backward.

"I would prefer you to be alive, but I will take this lack of cooperation to mean you do not share the sentiment."

Vizsla tossed a stun grenade which hit the downed Crusader with auditory, visual, and nerve-stimulus assaults. Blinded, deafened, and unable to move, Johanna's fading vision saw Diablo being overwhelmed by nets that appeared electrified, even as he'd taken dozens of their assailants out of the fight.

A terrifying glee lit the woman's features as she snatched Valla's railgun. It wasn't _meant_ for rapid fire, though being semi-automatic with a five-round magazine it could empty itself as fast as capacitors could regain energy. Bokat-Anne relished the notion of finally putting down these annoying "Heroes." Misguided morons who thought they could be useful were seeing their leverage melt away; trashed laboratories required resources to repair, and management looked poorly on experiments which turned on their masters.

"Ablation requires destruction" she hissed. She pulled the MR-7's trigger as fast as it would allow, pumping round after round into the stricken Johanna. Though her armor made her almost unkillable in matches, even this version made real lacked the reinforcement necessary to repel multiple hypervelocity strikes. Even if it had been sturdy enough, the limit became what was underneath—Raynor once mentioned offhand to other Heroes that some Marauder units were recovered with their suits intact…but their operators not so much.

Vizsla reloaded, and her spent magazine landed next to Valla, bouncing with several 'ting' sounds before settling flat on its side. The Demon Hunter's eyes opened, sky-blue. She stumbled to her feet, nearly falling as she tried to use a rifle she no longer held as support and instead crashed into Bokat-Anne, whose shot went wide.

"Do watch yourself, operative!" snapped Vizsla. "In fact, would you kindly put this irksome Akarat freak out of her misery?"

Valla lined up her shot with four rounds left.

"Do not miss."

Thinking it to be more taunting from Bokat-Anne, she instead saw Johanna's lips moving between grimaces—while she had very little exposure to the effects of more modern weapons outside the Nexus, it hit Valla like the arms of a Mallet Lord what she had just been asked to do given Johanna's current state.

"Finish…it…"

 _At least I died in battle._

Johanna swore her failing eyes were playing tricks. The last thing she would see was a blue-eyed Demon Hunter, except, the blue flickered and disappeared. Replaced by an orange she'd not seen except in the pits of Hell itself, only to be consumed by blue again. What color Valla's eyes ultimately ended up wasn't something Johanna could see through the back of her head as the other Nephalem turned away. She also could not hear Valla's next words.

"Burning Hells, take you!"

THWACK. THWACK. THWACK. THWACK.

Each staccato blast preceded a wet-sounding impact, as though MR-7 shots were hitting something that, unlike Johanna, bore little resistance to such a powerful weapon. Johanna closed her eyes, at peace with departing this world having left nobody to carry her shield and name.

Instead, she felt her wounds closing. It was, in a rather twisted sense, amusing to hold in one's hand the five spikes theoretically responsible for one's death as they were expelled from her body. Several were deformed, their fronts compressed as they'd struck Johanna's heavy armor before plowing through metal into flesh.

Johanna began reciting the Laws of Hope. Surrounded by a blinding yellow glow, she dashed about the destroyed lab, introducing those binding Diablo to the business end of her flail. Only once she was sure all who opposed her were dead did she return to Valla's side. The other woman's eyes burned such an intense orange Johanna recoiled in shock. Looking the other Nephalem over, she became aware that Valla's plate armor and weapon were drenched in blood.

"Their sorcery cannot withstand untempered hatred" said the Demon Hunter. Her voice grew harsher with each subsequent word. "They will all die. This place will be razed to the ground, and I will have my vengeance!"

Though Crusaders and Demon Hunters seldom worked together, they would not refuse the aid of the other when fighting some nastier hellspawn. Johanna, like many who worked with them, had seen what could happen when a Demon Hunter failed to temper their hatred with the discipline that was also drilled into them from day one—whole villages slaughtered in ways that made demon invasions seem kind. Such individuals were, of course, banished from the loosely-knit Demon Hunter order (rumor also had it that other Demon Hunters quietly took them out), but the damage was done.

Thus, Johanna stood silently terrified of what such revenge might entail. She'd laughed off the taunts of Azmodan, ignored the seduction of Cydaea, and caused Diablo himself to flee her words in terror. Valla's radiating hatred filled the room, and made the Crusader's blood run cold.


	33. Asset Out of Containment

**Chapter 33 – Asset Out of Containment**

Those Heroes captured in cages found themselves quite literally shelved. Whatever was going on had something to do with an "asset out of containment," so blared the loudspeakers, anyway.

The heavy escort dragging Nova to a holding cell got reassigned (the strongest of these being Valla and Bokat-Anne), leaving the Ghost easily able to disable her remaining guards, then slip away under cover of cloak. Her psionics allowed extending invisibility to items in her hands that were not intended to be, such as the pair of quad-cell cages imprisoning her fellow Heroes that she liberated from their storage in a closet.

She'd sent Dr. Kara Grimes away out of concern for her safety ("They will definitely shoot at me, and I don't want you near that"). When the doctor protested Nova had no way to know where the "embiggering" devices were, she demurred, saying only that "instinct will get me there." True to her word, Nova navigated successfully to the room in which she'd been enlarged. A few telekinetic snaps let the other Heroes out. She placed Kerrigan center on the platform, stepped back, and pushed the same button she'd seen a lab tech use.

Kerrigan stepped out, wings scraping against a retracting cylinder, but with plenty of clearance otherwise. Other Heroes were similarly transformed.

"It is fortunate those fools are too busy dealing with others to notice us."

The response was immediate and loud. " _Sylvanas!_ "

Several lab techs who'd been sent to investigate "power spikes" (embiggering machines were hardly light energy users) poked their heads in only to squeak in fear and beat a hasty retreat.

"If they give us away…" warned Raynor.

"They won't."

Sylvanas backed up her words with deeds as a single arrow whistled past Raynor, out into the hallway. It proceeded to explode with a shriek that sent all present other than Sylvanas herself diving for cover with hands clasped to ears. Her allies were merely dazed. The workers (who probably just collected their paychecks) rocked back and forth on the ground, their ears bleeding profusely.

A few waves of Malfurion's staff put an end to the injuries, though it did not clean up blood slicking gray metal floor plates.

"Did you have to do that?" demanded Raynor, glaring at the undead elf.

"Would you rather I killed them?" asked Sylvanas, acting for all the world like this would be a legitimate option in the eyes of the one good person in the Koprulu sector. "They cannot be allowed to alert others to our presence."

She yanked a sparking, destroyed device from one of their belts.

"Whatever this is, it won't help them anymore."

"It's a radio" said Kerrigan evenly, as if describing something boring like burning lava on Char. "While I understand Jim's hesitation, these circumstances are…trying."

"I know that laugh" said Raynor suddenly. Others noticed it too, and all took off as fast as they could move. It didn't take psionics or advanced sensors to figure out where the battle raged—a huge section of the lab had been gutted: walls knocked down, doors blown out, only the ceiling left in one piece. Within this maelstrom stood Diablo, using thick claws, a barbed tail, and his great bulk to toss about what the others presumed to be Weaponized Extraction Team soldiers. Around him dashed Valla, protected by her own speed and Johanna's shield at times. Or, rather, what was left of it.

Sylvanas had a healthy dislike for Johanna. Caught alone on the battlefield (often soloing mercenary camps), she repeatedly found herself constantly slowed, dragged backward, and usually sent to the Hall of Storms by Johanna's relentless advance. It was hardly fairer the other way as Johanna tended to lead Sylvanas' team (often egged on by the Banshee Queen—"They flee before us!") into ambushes when the Crusader looked weak.

Right now, though, she realized the obnoxious Light-loving zealot needed all the help she could get. Rapid arrows found homes in the bodies of hapless soldiers. Valla dashed over to Raynor.

"We could not have held out much longer. Your timing is perfect."

She was about to dash away when something caught her eye. She'd heard of it before, and had been told she might eventually be trained for it though her combat style made such use questionable.

"Look out! Power armor!" she yelled.

"Desist or be destroyed!" bellowed a voice from said armor's external speakers. "Those who surrender will be allowed to live."

"Somehow, I doubt their sincerity" said Malfurion to his allies.

"Then I will meet death head on!" thundered Sonya. She hurled herself straight at the new arrival.

J117 Power Armor (nicknamed "The Chief") turned its wearer into a walking tank. After years of development, it finally became possible (using some incompletely-understood 0-10-4s) to build a practical, single-person combat suit that had the durability to take on vehicles much larger than itself while also dispatching swarms of weaker enemy soldiers. Recharging plasma shields held enemy fire at bay, and should these fall its thick plating proved impervious to small-arms fire, highly-resistant to vehicle weapons, and only susceptible to aircraft-caliber guns.

Harry Lime's eyes bugged out. Nobody grew that tall, except maybe basketball players. Yet here he stood, in his J117, watching a woman who had to be over seven feet charge straight at him. These little "Heroes" were harmless at the size he'd usually seen them. In fact, they would be quite adorable if they'd just _behave_. Consequently, whoever had the brilliant idea of making them into normal-size humans needed to be waterboarded, he thought.

"HUUUUUUUUUUAAAAH!" Sonya's dual blades struck shielding, unable to do direct damage to her opponent. This only enraged her more.

Limes pumped shot after shot from his old-fashioned (non-railgun) GAU-90 into a target that should have exploded by now, huge or not. Instead, wounds knit via something, probably an FSP. Whatever it was seemed to be coming from a purple-skinned, green-bearded figure with long ears. Ignoring the roaring redhead, Lime turned his gun to this new target.

"Oh no you don't."

Sarah Kerrigan reached out with zerg-enhanced claws, pulling the would-be attacker away from his focus on Malfurion. She pounced, slashing both with clawed hands and wings, but ran into the same issue Sonya did. She was thrown clear, but she'd succeeded in protecting their healer.

The thunder of (presumably) rocket motors was followed by a massive crash as their opponent leapt across the battlefield. A powered fist drove down, trapping Sylvanas by her cape, while a bayoneted gun swung to decapitate her. Not called the "Banshee Queen" for nothing, Sylvanas gave her enemy the slip by riding a wave of spectrals, then turning about to unleash a torrent of arrows.

"Well, this ain't good" said Raynor casually. "It appears that suit might be able to fly…"

Malfurion called upon the earth to smite this monstrosity, rooting it in place and preventing it from taking off again.

"Servos whirrin'!"

An Xplodium charge landed next to their tormenter, who was unable to escape its obvious countdown or moderate blast radius, which knocked it back and sent it reeling. Another leap.

THOOM. Jaina, under gun, flipped into her ice form as bottle-sized shells found themselves negated.

"Back the hell up!" bellowed Raynor, loading a large round into his own big gun, blasting Jaina's attacker away. She popped out of her ice, and promptly unleashed all of her abilities at once.

"Why don't you chill out for a bit?"

Finally, something had an effect. After Jaina's attack, Sonya's blades left huge divits in superchilled metal. Roaring in triumph, Sonya prepared to drive her sword through the metal demon's cockpit, only to be foiled by a regenerated shield.

"Brightwing will stop bad people from doing bad things!"

With a pop, an intimidating mechanized monster became…a rabbit.

Jim Raynor hesitated for a split second. His companions had no such thoughts. Kerrigan's spikes impaled without mercy. Sonya's whirling blades chopped, diced, sliced. A single shot from Nova's rifle disintegrated what was left, which popped out of polymorph as a pile of ashes.

"I'll see _you_ in Hell!" bellowed Diablo.


	34. Ghost of a Breakout

**Chapter 34 – Ghost of a Breakout**

Seeing their strongest member fall in a rather dramatic fashion while surrounded by a ring of angry-looking 0-10-4s, Weaponized Extraction Team grunts scattered.

"They flee before us!" cried Sylvanas, sounding a rare note of happiness.

"Indeed" replied Jaina. "But where would they flee to? Does anybody have an idea where we are?"

Many floors up in the command center, fists slammed into unyielding surfaces. A white-haired, bearded man sat at his desk, a stunning view out massive windows behind him.

"The failure of Faustus Serum, and subsequent death of Bokat-Anne, are extremely unfortunate. Should these 0-10-4s run unchecked, they may damage the integrity of our facility" he dictated into an audio journal.

"Admiral Pious, we have reports of severe damage to internal structures on decks 33 through 37 due to the largest 0-10-4" reported a crewman.

"Has our science division come up with any means to _reverse_ the process?" he asked. Pious was not one to flip tables or become unreasonable with subordinates who simply reported bad news that was no fault of their own. He wanted to know how the situation might be contained.

"Well, sir, at least two embiggering devices were destroyed during use. And of course, any attempts to reverse will likely require the machine that made them large in the first place…"

"Our priority is containment" replied the Admiral evenly. "Can we at least ensure that is accomplished?"

His immediately present subordinate confessed this was outside his expertise, instead connecting to a woman in a portion of the lab not yet touched by conflict.

"Admiral Pious, in order to do that, we'd have to… We'd have to collapse it."

"You sound unsure of yourself, Lieutenant. Why is that?" Not accusatory, just curious.

"Sir…"

"Go on, Candice, I don't bite!"

"Sir, the controls to do so are inside the hot zone. We can't get to them." Anticipating her superior's next question, she continued "Routing commands to you is impossible due to security protocols. Because of the current crisis, lab controls must be accessed manually."

Admiral Pious sighed. There was another way. There was always another way. SPEAR did not maintain its grip on the functionally supernatural by being stupid. Even the most unexpected could be compensated for, so long as one was willing to think outside of usual orthodoxies.

[…]

Nova looked at her wrist. Squinting and scrunching her face, she looked again. Her GPS had no signal, but at the point where it lost connection made no sense either.

"If this is right" she said to the others, "we're underwater."

"That's ridiculous!" spluttered Raynor. "How could we be?"

"If we were on land without a GPS signal, it would say it was jammed, not disconnected" shot back Nova. "There is simply no signal. These coordinates, if I remember history correctly, are somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean."

Raynor thought this over. If they were deep enough that a Ghost's targeting systems couldn't work (underwater nukes were, sadly, a common occurrence back home), then they were far down indeed.

"How the hell did we get down here?"

"Hold your horses, _Marshal_ " she replied coyly. "Remember, this isn't the time we're used to. It's 2015 here, not the 2500s. Their GPS is laughably primitive and can't penetrate more than a small amount of water in the best case. We may be only a few feet down."

"Alright people, raise your hand if you can swim!"

The floor beneath, slicked with blood, shells, and debris, shuddered. A few seconds passed before another tremor, this one stronger, rumbled through.

"All personnel, proceed to assigned evacuation station" came a monotonous male voice over intercom. Two scientist-looking people stumbled past, before one turned about suddenly.

"Come _on_ , May—I know your head can turn to ridiculous angles thanks to all that karate and yoga, but…"

Dr. Bruce Wane's protests died on his tongue as he realized exactly what he was seeing. "Holy hell! They went ahead and did it!"

"Did what?" asked Raynor. "Your boys didn't do this—we made ourselves big, thank you very much!"

"How did that happen?" spluttered Dr. May Linda. "Those machines were supposed to be accessed only by…"

"Does it matter?" snarled Sylvanas. "Your weak little soldiers could not stop us. Either aid us, or…" She drew back her bowstring.

"Put that away before you put out an eye" snapped Jaina. "These scientists are not like the ones who attacked us. In fact, based on Li Li's descriptions, these are two that she spoke with!"

"You know Li Li?" asked Dr. Linda.

Johanna failed to conceal a "way to state the obvious" look on her face. "Of course we do. She was one of us before she _somehow_ ended up here, bigger, and was returned spouting questionable tales of division within SPEAR."

"She was right" replied Dr. Wane hastily before introducing himself. "I've heard _every_ Batman joke, by the way, so don't even start with that."

Blank stares. Finally, someone who wasn't going to try to make a reference to that comic book superhero…

"We science types are more interested in the 'whys' and the 'hows' rather than 'let's shoot things.'"

Valla pointed her recovered MR-7 at them, its laser sight glowing ominously.

"Do you condone the use of mind-altering substances?"

Both cowered, even though they had never approved such things (and in fact had lobbied against them), they both had the distinct feeling any unsatisfactory answer would lead to a quick death.

"Answer me or perish!" screamed Valla, seeming quite unhinged. A wild shot, doubtlessly intended to scare rather than cripple, impacted near Dr. Linda's left foot.

"No, no, absolutely not" stammered Dr. Wane. "We warned the Weaponized Extraction Teams their attempts to use Faustus Serum to create operatives would be an extreme risk. One we could not ever recommend. Especially not with their poor safety record."

The floor shook again, much more this time. Whatever had started appeared to be escalating.

"Our evacuation station is this way" gestured Wane. "Come with us, we'll see if there's room."

"Room for what?" questioned Raynor, eyes narrowing.

"Room in the escape pod" explained Dr. Linda. "We're fifteen thousand feet under the ocean, didn't you know that?"

"Ha!" barked Nova. Kerrigan gave her a sideways look as if to say "Really?"

"Alright" said the rebel commander slowly. "So what's shakin'? Some earthquake?"

"Now that I couldn't tell you" replied Linda. "This base is heavily defended, so whatever's attacking must be powerful to get past DU _Iron Chancellor_."

More empty looks.

"Oh, I don't think Fedón could have made this up even in his film days" laughed Wane. "Defensive Unit _Iron Chancellor_ is a resurrected World War II battleship, used to be _Bismarck_. This base, this facility, is called Atlantis Station, built into the side of an underwater mountain. It was picked because it would make refitting that old wreck easier."

Linda had to smile at Wane's befuddlement. Though this was an impressive (true!) tale, none of the 0-10-4s seemed to give the reaction he sought.

"Oh, okay, it's kind of less impressive if you're used to magic everywhere" (he looked at Jaina), "spaceships" (Raynor/Nova) "or being the children of gods" (Sonya).

"Warning: Leakage detected. It is highly encouraged to reach your evacuation station" droned the voice.

"The world does not stop because you decided to have idle chit-chat" snarked Sylvanas. "Let us move, before you all, with your lungs and other fixtures of life, drown."


	35. Hammer of the Gods

**Chapter 35 – Hammer of the Gods**

Captain Sirella Martin shook her head, allowing her regulation-defying hair to swish about. Not that there were any actual regulations to be in violation of despite being aboard a naval vessel. Even though SPEAR commanded enough materiel to wipe out the world several times over in 0-10-4s, it was _not_ , strictly speaking, military.

"Fire on my own base" she muttered. "What has the world come to?"

Unlike its previous owners, SPEAR endeavored to keep command facilities away from vulnerable parts of its ships. Martin viewed her plasma cannon shots from deep inside what had once been Nazi Germany's biggest warship, _Bismarck_. Refitted to suit an organization for which the paranormal was the new normal, the imposing vessel had been tasked to defend the mountain upon which its sunken wreck had once rested.

"Yes, it is ridiculous" said SPEAR leadership circa early 1992 upon hearing the proposal. "It is as if someone watched _Space Battleship Yamato_ and decided to make it real. Which is precisely why we are going to do this."

SPEAR's modus operandi tended toward the extreme—if something was so absolutely ridiculous it would be dismissed by 99 out of 100 people on sight, the last could be co-opted (or silenced) and the general public would be none the wiser. It worked in the past with whaling, so why not do it again?

Now, the former fascist warship blasted its own (underwater) home port with plasma cannons mounted where its turrets used to be. No more armored boxes—just three bare barrels mounted in each barbette. The ship's energy shields would take care of the rest, and anything that the cannons couldn't hit would be shredded by other weapons. The cold of deepwater operations also helped keep its giant guns from overheating, which was an unexpected bonus that nearly doubled the expected fire rate.

Martin knew the orders were genuine: PROTOCOL 66—DESTRUCTION OF RESEARCH AND LABORATORY FACILITIES WITHIN ATLANTIS. She was not paid to think about why that might be, but she guessed the eggheads must have lost control of something big. Big enough to merit collapsing the research section in on itself from the outside. Being unable to activate internal self-destruct meant that something must be extremely FUBAR. She just hoped that there wouldn't be problems with carrying out those orders, since most of her crew had in fact been drawn from the science divisions ("to give them some skin in the game for once," they'd said) rather than the Weaponized Extraction Teams.

Another round of twelve plasma blasts impacted the mountain. Admiral Pious knew doing this would destroy more than just the research division—for safety's sake those sections were layered behind many other parts of the base. Thus, imploding them would necessarily end up flooding 70% of Atlantis. So far, less than a quarter of it was structurally compromised from _Iron Chancellor_ ; internal damage being another matter entirely.

"This is taking too long!" she complained. Perhaps DU _Steadfast Samurai_ could be summoned to assist.

[…]

"By Bul-Kathos' hand, this is the most nonsensical thing to happen to me since the Nexus" said Sonya loudly upon reaching an escape hatch. "What is this, a pod for rats?"

"Well" replied Dr. Bruce Wane, "it was not designed for your, ahem, anatomy."

"Ahahaha!" laughed the Barbarian. "My size intimidates a lot of men, do not be ashamed!"

"Okay, we aren't going to fit in here" concluded Raynor, slightly apprehensive. "Now what?"

"Well" hedged Wane, "there are some _Manta_ -class cargo transports that are far, um" (he glanced at Sonya again) "larger than this escape pod. Trouble is, they're five decks down, in a flood zone."

"But if someone were to bring one up here, it could dock" added Linda.

More shakes.

" _Shorel'aran_ "

Sylvanas disappeared.

"She didn't even ask for directions!" blurted Jaina.

"Yeah, pride goeth before the fall and all that" replied Raynor. "Still, if she can swim…"

Kerrigan laughed. "It's less that she can swim and more that she doesn't need air!"

After an improbably short wait, Dr. Wane heard thumping on the escape pod he now sat in, awaiting this very event heralding the arrival of a larger craft. Stepping out, he counted to five before using manual override to launch it. Indicators went red, then green.

"Seal confirmed. You may now board" droned the same computer.

A soaked Sylvanas stepped out of the boarding tube. Several Heroes suppressed snickers; she had a small anglerfish dangling from her left ear.

"Everybody in!" she ordered in her typically reedy, echo-y voice.

Raynor took the (oddly standing) controls, only to be shoved aside by Nova.

"You're in my spot, cowboy."

She gave a side-eye to structural integrity, which was reporting damage to several modules on the right side.

 _Miss Medieval probably can't fly_ she thought.

"Considering where you were when we found you, you sure are chipper now" Raynor shot back.

"Would you rather I cry in the corner, or do you want to get out of here?" Without waiting for an answer, Nova slammed all four throttles forward. Two pairs of magnetohydrodynamic engines thrummed to life, pushing away from the collapsing Atlantis facility. Much to her displeasure, Sonya found herself unable to fit in any available seating position, though she at least avoided having to duck.

A low buzz emanated through the cabin as the drives worked. A big red dot appeared on sonar, followed by an angry red image overlay on the cockpit windows.

"And there's the problem" said May Linda, stabbing a finger at the newly-rendered image of _Iron Chancellor_. "They're trying to cut us off."

Nova put through the expected incoming transmission.

"Transmit your identification code and flight path, or we will open fire!"

Bruce Wane looked back and forth between _Iron Chancellor_ and the mountain base he'd called home.

"Wait a minute…" he shouted.

"Uhh…" Raynor stammered. "Shuttle Tyderium, parts and technical crew?"

It sounded more like a question than an answer.

"Did anyone _else_ " yelled Wane, not letting himself be talked over again "notice that our ship is shooting our base?"

"What the hell…"

Now it was Linda's turn to stop talking. Illumination from _Iron Chancellor_ and its weapon flashes made plain what her colleague had been shouting about.

"So that's why the place is shaken' like some zerg beast got hungry!"

Kerrigan gave Raynor a weird look.

"Your failure to authenticate leaves us no choice, and seeing as it is possible you may be escaping with contraband, we are being forced to fire."

Sylvanas glared at everyone, still soaked, though no longer having a fish latched to her ear.

"Yeah, yeah, we know!" said Raynor irritably.

"Shields…up. Weapons…none."

Nova's voice noticeably fell at this development.

"For being so very prepared for so many eventualities, having unarmed vehicles strikes me as odd" said Johanna.

"Well, not everything needs to be shot!" protested May Linda. "Before WET got all up in everyone's business all the time, before they basically took over SPEAR, _most_ of our vessels were only lightly armed, if that. We used to be explorers of the unknown" she added bitterly.

"May, I know you really, really enjoy xenobiology, xenoarcheology, and heaven knows what else, but _open your eyes!_ This militaristic turn isn't new, and isn't unique to SPEAR. Why else would our roots trace back to so much bloodshed?"

The ship shuddered as impacts from outside registered.

"Uhh, guys, just so you know, if we have a hull breach at this depth, we're all dead" said Raynor. "This Blizzard ain't gonna be around to write some last-ditch save in this time!"

" _Most_ of us" corrected Sylvanas. "Though, I am not sure what I would do on my own…"

Her contemplative manner and small smile caused all other Heroes and humans to give Sylvanas dirty looks.

"Jim, go back and monitor the engines" barked Nova. "Let me know if anything goes yellow or red. Also, make sure we don't get any ion leaks!"

Kerrigan shifted her unpleasant glare from Sylvanas to Nova.

"I'm going to get us going faster. These engines work by electrifying water, then pushing it with magnets. Amp up the field and we may be able to move quicker."

A significant increase in the buzzing sound filling the cabin seemed to indicate that whatever Nova was trying to do succeeded.


	36. Atlantica

**Chapter 36 – Atlantica**

Nova took a gamble, draining front shields to boost propulsion. Seeing as _Iron Chancellor_ was falling behind, the ship had to use its forward guns in order to land shots which were increasingly difficult as Nova juked and jinxed.

More warnings blared.

"This isn't good."

Nova pointed at a display that showed a rather large number of surface vessels near where, if trajectory remained unchanged, they would appear. The only good thing came from their IFFs—not SPEAR.

Shrill noises caused even Sylvanas to cover her ears. As if the alarm storm needed yet another element, a disembodied female voice vocalized two words nobody wanted to hear: incoming torpedo. The ship then rocked violently as a detonation shockwave struck.

"Warnings are usually more helpful when they come _before_ something bad happens" muttered Raynor, to much nodded agreement.

"So much for getting an easy ride from a ship crewed by a majority of scientists instead of trigger-happy gun nuts" added Dr. Linda. Nobody aside from Wane seemed to have noticed she'd said anything. "Must be following those orders…"

It took less than a minute before the cockpit bubble broke ocean surface. Two more torpedoes detonated aft during the journey upward, disabling one of four engines. However, such strikes were mere spite, nothing more, as their craft burst into the sunlight.

An unknown craft appearing next to a US Navy supercarrier was no small matter. The incoming vessel had been spotted on sonar, but it ascended so rapidly reaction was necessarily limited. Communications could not be established, as whether the arrival possessed the ability to parse repeated hails remained unclear. Thus, shooting first and asking questions later.

"Well, they're not very nice" griped Nova as incoming shellfire and missiles struck the craft's shields.

"Look, if you just popped up randomly on the _Hyperion_ without warning, I wouldn't hesitate to have you thrown in the brig" countered Raynor.

"You wish" said Nova, letting more tease into her voice again. She smirked, savoring both getting under his skin and annoying Kerrigan at the same time.

"Are we going to sit here and be shot at, or are we going to do something?" asked Jaina.

Nova flipped a switch. A loud whine intruded before compensators reduced it to a dull hiss. Water cascaded down the manta-shaped hull as it rose from the sea. Pinkish jets emanated from three of four thrusters as they switched from magnetohydrodynamic mode to magnetoplasmadynamic thrust.

"This craft seems ill-suited for flight" observed Jaina. "Then again, form does not always follow function."

"My guess is those engines keep us airborne with brute force" suggested Raynor. He turned to Drs. Linda and Wane. "Either of you know anything about these?"

Both shook their heads. "This sort of knowledge was left to the engineers. Though I am versed in some parts of the system, I did not need to know anything beyond the materials-science angle" said Wane.

"We're going to have to keep an eye on the fusion reactor" said Nova, "because flying puts a lot more stress on it than submerged travel did."

The craft banked while pounding away from missiles, shells, and other ordinance spewing from _Harry S. Truman_ and her attendant escorts. A few shots slipped past overtaxed shields, weakened significantly from the huge reactor draw of the magnetoplasmadynamic engines. Fortunately for the Heroes, they all struck the inoperative outboard starboard engine.

"So where are we going?"

Despite being very much in charge of the vessel's operation thus far, Nova had no clue what to do next.

"Time to show these people what SPEAR has been hiding from them" said Raynor, "and I think I know the best way to do it."


	37. No Ticket

**Chapter 37 – No Ticket**

An event as popular as BlizzCon demanded exacting logistics to prevent utter bedlam. With excitement running at fever pitch as fans of Blizzard Entertainment's many universes descended upon the Anaheim Convention Center, inevitable bottlenecks formed and lines snaked for seemingly-endless distances. Some consolation was had from people geeking out over shared interests (one particularly intense discussion surrounded stealth in _Heroes of the Storm_ ), but this ultimately had the opposite effect of making people _more_ impatient to play their favorite games rather than less.

Nova decided she would have some fun. Other Heroes groused, but went along anyway.

Event schedule in hand, Nova got into a very short admission line as most arrivals had already dispersed to their convention halls by the time the actual Heroes arrived. Denied entry due to lack of credentials ("Killer costume, though!"), she snuck off, cloaked, and tiptoed past the people who had just told her "no" two minutes ago. She blew a silent kiss in their direction, grinning like a child on Christmas.

"1600 hours" she said quietly. "Time to see who looks like me!"

It wasn't a mainstage event, but groups of StarCraft-themed cosplayers had gathered of their own accord. Some took large group-shots (so an SCV stood under Kerrigan's wings who was flanked by Zeratul, Nova, Raynor, and, oddly, Sgt. Hammer). More well-represented characters judged each other on accuracy and swapped tips on costume-making. It was to one of these groups Nova injected herself.

"Wait, is that real metal for the gun?"

"Look at the armor detail! Was that 3D-printed or injection-molded?"

Nova said nothing, hurrying away as if she had urgent business to attend to.

"That prop was _really_ heavy. Some people's obsession with detail…" muttered one cosplayer.

She broke into a weakly-secured access point. Unlike digging through SPEAR, this required little effort.

"Aha! Gotcha!"

The parade of cosplayers began on schedule, the same schedule Nova swiped. As each was announced (name and character), they walked out onto the stage, stood for a bit, then departed for the next contestant. Nova finally settled her debate with herself, and cut in front of a Sonya.

"Hey!"

She stepped on stage, toggling back to invisible. Now was the moment.

FZZZT.

Gasps from the auditorium crowd, then wild cheers.

"That's…that's cinematic quality right there" said a shocked Wil Wheaton. "No fair, Blizzard—putting your own woman in the contest!"

"You have no idea…" said Nova, though nobody heard.

A blur tore the eyes of convention-goers away from a woman who'd just _appeared_ onstage, seemingly stepping out of a Blizzard cinematic. Nova fell backward, struck by Kerrigan, who slashed wildly as she dropped from the ceiling. Spikes came up through the stage floor, splintering wood and metal while missing Nova by less than a meter. Heavy footsteps. Jim Raynor, who had been content to wander with his visor down, took the mic and flipped his faceplate open.

"Sorry to crash the party, guys. But we have an announcement."

He passed the mic to Gazlowe, who now stood at the head of a line of Heroes—one that completely took over the entire stage, much to the chagrin of cosplayers.

"How ya doin?' Gazlowe here! So, you ever hear a rumor so ridiculous you'd rather believe the Horde and Alliance could coexist?"

Jaina cleared her throat loudly, and accepted the vocal amplifier.

" _Some_ of us still believe that." She left a very big pause before speaking again. "Your society has been living a lie, and we are here to bring you the truth!"

"Fear is not always an illusion!" bellowed Diablo, having sunken into the splintered stage. He needed no microphone, so it was passed again.

"Yet fear is what drove those who would conceal us" continued Malfurion.

"Maybe some of you should stay concealed" huffed Sylvanas. "As I suspected, my portrayals have been… _lacking_."

"You weren't supposed to say that!" hissed Raynor. "Stick to the plan!"

She quickly passed the microphone—she was _not_ going to admit she'd forgotten her part of the speech.

"Bul-Kathos would frown upon you concealing your true power!" added Sonya. She towered over everyone save Diablo.

"Of course, you should do so responsibly" interrupted Johanna. "Nothing is worse than…"

"A lesson in restraint from those who chased me into my own realm, killed me, and then brought me back for more loot?" roared Diablo. "How amusing."

"We will find the people who have been suppressing evidence of the supernatural. And we will kill them!" screeched Valla, still seeming quite deranged. "Their blood will fill the oceans, the lakes, and the rivers!"

Her tirade drew curious stares because, its disturbing content aside, she did not resemble any character from any Blizzard property without her iconic hood and armor (though the voice rang familiar).

"Brightwing no like friend's attitude! But we must stop the bad people!"

Raynor couldn't help but be amused by this—Brightwing, who decapitated a hummingbird in one bite, complaining about someone else being too much into gore?

By this point, Weaponized Extraction Teams were told to forget subtlety. The cat, as they say, was out of the bag, and forcing it back in was going to be messy. Captain George Sulu of DU _Steadfast Samurai_ opened fire from a great altitude, directing his plasma cannons at a specific target. They would try to minimize collateral damage (energy weapons made this easier than explosives) but in the interest of maintaining the watch SPEAR-like organizations held for centuries, it was sometimes more practical to eliminate witnesses along with the actual 0-10-4s when the ablation failure hit this scale. Less memory wiping that way.

Impacts turned a parking lot full of cars into just so much twisted rubble as blue fire rained down on what was once a _Manta-_ class transport and everything around it.

"Clear the room!" yelled Nova. "Everyone get out of here!"


	38. The Hunt Begins

**Chapter 38 – The Hunt Begins**

Captain Sulu watched disapprovingly on a holotable as 0-10-4 signatures dispersed in many directions. He could just glass the entire city of Anaheim, but even if it was procedure Sulu wasn't going to do it unless forced into a last-resort situation. Besides, _Steadfast Samurai_ had already attracted attention from reconnaissance units launched out of Beale Air Force Base since stealth and firing main plasma cannons were mutually exclusive. A full-on broadside risked drawing in combat aircraft, likely based at Nellis in Nevada.

While _Steadfast Samurai_ had precisely nothing to fear from the military arsenals of the conventional world, even SPEAR was (officially) not much into "destroy the world to save it" that might result if an open conflict developed. If someone decided to push a big red button, SPEAR would retaliate enough to prevent more from being launched, and that alone guaranteed massive damage.

Instead, he re-engaged stealth and held position at a little over sixty thousand feet. Tracking the anomalies, he ordered drop pods launched at their locations and handed the operation over to Jeff Gordon. WET units would attempt to pacify and return each of the 0-10-4s, and if that was not possible they would be terminated.

Down below, Heroes scattered.

"If they want to take us all out, let's not make it easy!" yelled Raynor. They weren't counting on being able to use bystanders as shields either, since WET had, among other things, tried to kill an innocent person, kidnapped Li Li, and rounded them all up. This also meant no Hero had any qualms about using lethal force against those who sought to restrain them on behalf of WET.

SPEAR headquarters observed all this through _Steadfast_ 's feeds and the inevitable news coverage that cropped up after a woman with a real, working cloaking device appeared before thousands of Blizzard fans. Technically, no functional supernatural phenomena had been stolen—as annoying as some within the organization found these "Heroes" they were still classified as living beings, not objects. The schism alluded to by Li Li and others came fully into being as the science division wished to passively observe ("Maybe, just maybe, the world deserves more credit than we have given it") versus the Weaponized Extraction Teams ("If we aren't in charge, the entirety of human civilization will fall once again!")

Though they'd initially separated out of fear of an orbital strike ("I'm pretty sure those aren't fun to be in" said Nova "though they are fun to call down"), everyone regrouped outside Disneyland across the street.

"We should endeavor to avoid endangering innocents" insisted Johanna. "Their reckless disregard for collateral damage reminds me of hellspawn."

"Okay, so we can't take refuge at Disneyland" said Raynor. "Not that we'd fit in with princesses and talking animals…"

As to how Jim Raynor knew about the contents of Disneyland, nobody knew.

"There are teams sweeping the streets for us" continued Nova. "We have to keep them occupied, chasing us."

"Their blood will make an excellent chaser" remarked Valla, casually popping out from behind her rifle's scope having blasted some unseen enemy straight through the head. "I look forward to more of it!"

Several present noticeably squirmed—Demon Hunters were known for being bloodthirsty but this was a whole different level. Seeing a mob of curious onlookers starting to form, Johanna quickly pulled the group toward the wreckage of their ship.

"Obviously, nobody wishes to test our respawning ability" she began. "But we need a plan. We cannot just run about with SPEAR chasing us forever."

"Given the past few hours, I have the distinct feeling they will pursue us until either we're captured, or they're dead" added Jaina sadly. "It seems their only purpose is to imprison us."

"Then we gotta get the word out!" said Raynor. "If they've been concealing things like us from the rest of the world, we should force them to let people make their own decisions about magic!"

"There is a great risk that uninvolved parties will be harmed" warned Malfurion. "Consider that our friend was marked for death merely by creating us."

"It is also rather presumptuous of us to assume that this time would be any different than the past." Johanna didn't like admitting it, but they had absolutely no knowledge of what happened the last time this world integrated the supernatural. "We must consider the risk. Could this be a matter of the few sacrificed to save the many?"

"I still don't like it" insisted Raynor. "It don't sit right with me that some unaccountable shady group of people is just gonna tell everyone 'This is for your own good.' Sounds like Mengsk, if you ask me!"

"I've connected to an unsecured wireless network" interrupted Nova. "It seems everything that happened is all over their internet."

"Li Li did say that SPEAR's job has gotten harder in the past twenty or so years—information is harder to control. It's not as simple as cutting the telegraph lines anymore." Raynor stopped talking, networked his suit to Nova, and projected an image on his arm.

The front page of YouTube, covered in cell phone films of BlizzCon, burning cars, and even a few snapshots of Nova when she stopped to stand amongst cosplayers.

"The secret's out, all right…"


	39. Running Riot

**Chapter 39 – Running Riot**

Members of WET took grim satisfaction in what happened next.

"There is a very unstable situation on the ground, that is unfolding very quickly…"

So said CNN. Some believed it to be classified military technology. Others blamed clever editing. That this represented some kind of crazy marketing stint was also considered, until footage of burning cars in Anaheim, California (with their subsequent insurance claims) hit YouTube. Cars that had been torched not by vandals or angry protestors, but plasma blasts delivered from sixty thousand feet up.

The first protests were mainly "tin-foil-hat" types—the ones who saw scary conspiracies behind _everything_ (never mind that the agent of alleged conspiracy had trouble with a website…in the year 2013). Of course, one loose nut near a military installation meant being hauled off to the base brig, and when video of _that_ got out, other types of protestors joined in.

"I can say with absolute certainty this has nothing to do with Blizzard Entertainment" insisted Michael Morhaime, CEO of said company. "Though Chris Metzen and his story team endeavor to create gripping, engaging universes and compelling characters, we did not cause them to, apparently, escape from behind the screen."

No serious reporter was foolish enough to imply Activision Blizzard's marketing department had anything to do with mass destruction of vehicles in the parking lot of their own convention, though that did not stop people from asking the question (as pointless as it was).

"No, for the last time, I can't fix this" said Gazlowe irritably when pestered by Jaina about the ruined craft. "Would be even more jerry-rigged than usual, and you all didn't seem to trust my contraptions the last time…"

Without their ship, the Heroes were stuck, unless they wanted to leave the two scientists and Jaina behind due to their limited endurance. Being from universes that diverged from "reality," most could easily travel long distances at high speed, except those three.

"There…there are other bases" offered Dr. Bruce Wane. "Other SPEAR bases that are more focused on science. We could try to get help there."

Though everyday citizens now figured they should stay clear of the wreckage, the Heroes found themselves surrounded by WET operatives.

"Surrender, or be destroyed!"

"Good news, everyone! There's only three of 'em!" yelled Gazlowe. "Bad news! They're all the stupid-big-hulking-death-machine type!"

"Wait a minute…" Raynor had an idea. He quickly communicated it to the others.

Malfurion rooted one out of range of the rest of the group. Brightwing polymorphed another. The final suit found itself subjected to a barrage of tazer rounds that shorted out its shields.

Kerrigan leapt onto it, using a spiked wing to pierce vulnerable optic ports. She yanked it off.

"Surprise!"

THWACK.

"Do you have to make such a mess?" asked the Queen of Blades, having been very close to the results of Valla's headshot.

Diablo tossed the unrooted armor across the road, buying them time to repeat their takedown.

"Not so tough now, huh?" Nova blew another kiss.

"Why didn't you think of that before?" demanded Raynor after the last suit was cleared of its occupant (Valla shoved remains into the ship).

"This is irrelevant" boomed Sonya. "What matters now is that we find one of these new outposts."

"Microfusion turbines" remarked Raynor when asked what would keep the suits going, and for how long. "They look like they were designed for a sustained fight…Swann would love these things!"

It was quite a sight to behold, a dozen Heroes and two power-armored scientists thundering down CA-57 on the way to I-15, one that news choppers across southern California were happy to relay to their viewers. By this point, the general population began to treat the emergence of these "characters" as a real event—how they existed no longer mattered, only what would happen because of them.

"Permission granted" came the response from Captain Sulu to Jeff Gordon's request to operate more openly.

"I guess it's a good thing we're wearing this armor?" It sounded more like a question from May Linda than a statement as bullets deflected off reactivated plasma shields.

"Of course, they sent in the gunships" griped Raynor. Now running parallel to the road, the Heroes still saw ricochets from attacks against them occasionally crack windows or flatten tires of nearby motorists. An ice lance from Jaina sent one of their pursuers skidding as its left engine pod failed. Unfortunately, this drew the remaining five gunships' attention, and they promptly focused on her.

Blue text flashed across the inside of Jaina's damaged, battered helmet: SHIELDS FAILING. ESTIMATED DEPLETION IN 5 SECONDS.

Bruce Wane decided to take a risk. "What does this red button do?" A small rocket blasted from his left arm into the ground only feet in front of him, knocking his power armor backward. Raising the arm, he pushed it again, distracting one of the gunships pursing the sorceress Hero. Too late. The rest watched massive shells spewed from gatling guns impact armor instead of energy barriers.

The armor toppled, which suggested it was no longer being controlled from the inside.


	40. Seek Knowledge, Not Power

**Chapter 40 – Seek Knowledge, Not Power**

Aboard _Iron Chancellor_ , scientists were kept busy accounting for 0-10-4s and other objects evacuated from Atlantis Station prior to its (mostly) flooding. The escape of a _Manta_ would be dealt with by surface forces. Perhaps the United States Navy, passing by at the time of the _Manta_ theft, would do it for them since one did not simply approach their aircraft carrier groups without authorization and expect a friendly welcome.

The chest, subject of much action by SPEAR, remained in its own room, sealed off by energy fields and kept under armed guard. Thus, when Jaina Proudmoore materialized in this citadel, many alarm bells went off. The phrase "burning the quantum communicators" might have also been used as communiques flew back and forth between _Chancellor_ and SPEAR's command elements.

Jóse Fedón and Laura Kraft had been ordered to _Iron Chancellor_ in lieu of evacuating aboard a pod like their colleagues Linda and Wane. Where Arbat went to none of them were privy to. As part of the team responsible for interviewing Li Li, they were immediately summoned to speak with this new arrival, "Jaina Proudmoore." They found her in a heavily guarded hospital room in the heart of _Chancellor_.

She shook her head, her blonde hair swishing about as her mage's garments were being scrutinized putting her in a patient's gown. Jaina sounded oddly content for "having apparently died, again…"

"I won't say they were _your_ gunships, because I'd like to believe not everyone in SPEAR is all about killing" said Jaina. "But SPEAR gunships were responsible for my, um, respawn."

"So it is true then" replied Kraft. "You Heroes just don't die."

"Well, considering I was smacked to death once and leapt willingly from a…drone…I believe is the word, twenty feet in the air when I was only slightly more than a foot tall, yes, I would say I cannot be killed."

"You, too, have memories of your own world, correct?" asked Fedón.

"Yes. The Horde, the Alliance… I'm told additional writing created conflict between them, and that I actually said 'Dismantle the Horde.'"

Jaina visibly shivered at the thought.

"This is a world without magic, Jaina. Or, as we call it, functional supernatural phenomena. That's what the wider population believes, anyway" said Kraft. "Thanks to the efforts of SPEAR and its predecessors. They weren't entirely off base in thinking that exposing citizens to such things could cause problems, but at the same time you can't bring up the Roman Empire as a reason to keep everything under wraps forever!"

"So SPEAR is afraid of the past repeating itself" replied Jaina slowly. "Has it not occurred to them that the reasons this 'Roman Empire' fell might not apply today?"

Jóse Fedón chuckled. It was not friendly.

"You see, some of the very institutions that helped conceal FSPs in the distant past became, shall we say, _obstacles_ , to making wider acceptance of such things possible. In the early 20th century, whales, which I'm sure you have heard of based on reading about your background, were harvested for various parts. What most people don't know—and this would drive the Greenpeace folks nuts—is that whales were hunted to near-extinction for another reason."

"If there was such a problem, why not be more open about it?"

"Look, Jaina" said Fedón, "if I were to tell you that the whales of this planet were on the verge of destroying human society then, and we had to kill them to stop it, would you believe me?"

"That sounds completely ridiculous!" cried Jaina.

"Exactly." Kraft picked up where her colleague left off with some charts. "At the time, all we knew was that whale pods were displaying highly unusual levels of coordination. They were actually operating under the cover of weather or near poorly-charted shorelines to sink ships!"

A photo of a diagram, dark brown lines on yellowed paper, depicting some kind of device.

"This was found embedded in an Antarctic iceberg. Even today our most advanced analysis cannot determine how it works, but we do know what it was for: this and dozens of others would have melted the polar ice caps in the span of a few weeks. Sea levels would have risen over two hundred feet, and many coastal cities would have been completely submerged. At the time, the slowness of transport and reliance on ports for movement of cargo would have resulted in many deaths and economic calamity. The subsequent market meltdown would have indirectly killed more."

Kraft stopped to let all this sink in. Expressions of incredulity, shock, finally returning to neutral crossed Jaina's face. Fedón spoke up again.

"Teams of observers at the time saw that whatever these were, they were very intricate and complex. But in areas with thin whale populations, either these were absent or shoddily built. So fewer whales, no melted ice caps."

"And if our forebears spouted off about 'whale magic,' the Catholic Church would not have helped us" concluded Kraft. "The Church's goals aligned with concealment of FSPs centuries ago, but trying to take it to the people in the 1920s would have set up a titanic conflict. One that, due to the hold of religion on the public mind at that time, we could not win."

"Are things the same now?" challenged Jaina. "Would the population reject the apparently-supernatural as readily?"

Fedón sighed.

"Technically, WET is right—it _is_ a risk to unmask everything. It's whether we should take the risk where the disagreement lies. Most in the science divisions think that the possibility of vast living-standards improvements merits jumping in feet-first. But the security-oriented types in the Weaponized Extraction Teams don't like it. To be fair to them, they're the ones who get shot at, warped into other dimensions, and cursed when FSPs go wrong or end up in the hands of rogue actors."

"Yet they are happy to benefit" noted the archmage. "Other Heroes from more technology-oriented universes tell me that many of the weapons and armors borne by WET have some kind of magical component, one neither their science nor the science of this world can explain!"

"Jaina, I think we mostly are on the same page here. But we're ten thousand feet under the ocean on a ship that answers to the Admiralty within the Weaponized Extraction Teams even though it's mostly operated by non-WET personnel. What are we supposed to do?"

Fedón threw up his hands in frustration.

"We should at least try talking to whoever is in charge" she replied, glaring.

"How do you know doing that won't get us all thrown in the brig, or worse, out one of the forward torpedo tubes?" challenged Kraft. "You may not die, but I think we might!"

"Is it not the duty of those who witness injustice to stand up against it? Before I was transported here, I saw WET teams bombarding a building full of regular people in order to try to kill us. We escaped. I know for a fact that property damage was extensive. I cannot say for sure whether innocents died, but that the military arm of your organization seems so callous means I cannot sit idly by!"

"If you want to march over to the bridge and tell Captain Martin this to her face, be my guest" gestured Kraft.

"We will be right behind you" added Fedón, his tone and posture daring Kraft to disagree.


	41. Burger Break

**Chapter 41 – Burger Break**

Two things happened at once: Jaina's armor toppled, and the five remaining gunships inexplicably whooshed away.

"I almost do not want to look" said Malfurion sadly.

"What's a little blood?" replied Valla dismissively. "Besides, it's not like Heroes can die, right?"

Without the helmets (courtesy Kerrigan), it was pretty obvious from the right angle that the armor was completely empty, the only mess remained from its _original_ occupant, not the Archmage of the Kirin Tor. Nothing around the legs, either, which had been heavily damaged by repeated strikes from gunship fire.

"Looks like Swiss cheese!" remarked Nova.

"I cannot fight when hunger ambushes me like a winged assassin" complained Sonya. "Let us find food!"

"Do any of you magic-types have any idea where Jaina might have gone to?" asked Raynor as the group arrived outside a McDonald's. "I mean, I'd normally guess something about protoss warp-gates and the end of the universe, but…"

"The effect of this resurrection was very clear when we were smaller" answered Johanna. "We respawned in the chest. However, at this size, it doesn't bear repeating that we no longer would fit. Not even Li Li. And especially not him."

She pointed at Diablo, who'd already attracted stares.

It only then occurred to the Heroes that they lacked suitable local currency.

"We could just take the food" suggested Valla hopefully. "Being that we can't die and they're all squishy…"

"Have you lost your mind?" snapped Sylvanas. "This isn't your game where you just root through chests and take whatever you fancy!"

"Where's Brightwing?" 

Nova found her question answered as a group of small children seemed to be playing with the faerie dragon. Some of them had tossed what looked like chicken nuggets, which Brightwing scarfed immediately.

"Some things haven't changed…" said the Ghost.

"Brightwing likes food. Do you have more food? That would make Brightwing happy!"

Worn-out parents, finally able to recharge iPads, smartphones, and other devices drained by tech-obsessed offspring on their long trips, were happy to let their kids hang out with "those cosplayers." The generosity of their children wasn't apparent until many small hands came back empty, because "the sparkly dragon was hungry!"

"Oh, good lord—they spent all their money on those ridiculous get-ups!" fumed one. "Not my fault!"

"For the last time, no" said Nova irritably. Some trucker named "Sal" decided to "put the moves" on her by leading off with "Whoa, whoa, whoas!" Her refusal to "hand over those digits things" ultimately resulted in him being thrown across the room. Telekinetically.

"Whoas! Cripes!"

"What more proof do you require?" complained Sylvanas to parents whose teenage son had taken quite the liking to her, in that he wanted to buy her food (never mind that she wouldn't need it—she was advocating for the others).

"You spent your allowance already" lectured a stern father. "Besides, I do not think this…" (he wrinkled his nose at the undead elf's smell) "… _lady_ …is your type anyway."

He turned to Sylvanas. "As for _you_ , you ought to learn some responsibility and budgeting. I will not…"

It was at that point Nova's unwanted paramour flew past. The Ghost looked at the line of slackjawed parents as if they were the weird ones for questioning her hurling someone thirty feet without touching him.

"What?" she deadpanned.

"Do not take what does not belong to you" warned Malfurion, using his plants to root a young man who had an excessive interest in Nova's rifle standing by a booth in the meantime. "You will injure someone's eye."

Giggling children were trying to catch Brightwing, who blinked among parents, Heroes, and older kids.

"This can't just be special effects…"

One mom waved her iPad around. "Look at this news story! Some crazy stuff about a lady with invisibility at the geek convention this weekend!"

Grinning, Nova flipped her cloak on and off.

Sylvanas took the hand of the teenager who sought her attention.

"Feel how my heart thunders in excitement!"

His hand lingered not a second before he yanked it away in disgust.

"Dad, she's… She doesn't have a heartbeat! And she's cold!"

Sylvanas hid a smile. Assuming they kept living (or in her case not-living-but-not-dead), she would enjoy tormenting those who fantasized about these so-called "cosplay" versions of herself. She was the real deal, the de-facto Banshee Queen, and none of them had _anything_ on her at all.


	42. Museum Pieces

**Chapter 42 – Museum Pieces**

The huge conning tower of _Iron Chancellor_ broke ocean surface several miles from the moving carrier battle group that had taken umbrage to a _Manta_ appearing too close. Switching from magnetohydrodynamic to magnetoplasmadynamic thrust just like its smaller cousin, _Chancellor_ left the sea behind.

"Use of quantum warp inside an atmosphere is discouraged" said Engineering after Captain Martin demanded it. "However, it is not impossible, and we can probably do it without damaging the ship."

Due to precision issues, _Chancellor_ would appear anywhere from a mile to several miles away from _Steadfast Samurai_ 's last reported position. This time, the warp ended up landing reasonably close.

"We did not request reinforcements" barked _Samurai_ 's control upon the appearance of _Iron Chancellor_. "Explain your presence here!"

Captain Martin knew this would happen. She also knew no explanation she offered could dissuade the other ship from firing if she persisted in remaining nearby since no valid orders existed for _Iron Chancellor_ to assist _Steadfast Samurai_. Of course, "assist" was not the plan…

Martin opened a full channel (audio/visual/holographic) to _Samurai_.

"I am Jaina Proudmoore, and your attacks against innocents must end. The concealment of magic in this world does a great disservice to the people who could otherwise benefit from it."

Captain Sulu saw two reasons for this, neither of them good for attempting to maintain the rapidly-crumbling veil of secrecy around Functional Supernatural Phenomena. Either this "Jaina" had taken over _Iron Chancellor_ and was now using it against him, or worse, the crew of _Chancellor_ had turned traitor against SPEAR.

"We had this situation under control" he replied. "Until your people decided to act out. If you and your other 'heroes' come quietly, this can all be swept away."

"And then what? Are we animals to be locked away, poked, prodded, experimented on?" demanded Jaina, her voice rising. "You may have convinced Li Li that what you are doing is harmless, but I am not so easily persuaded!"

"We told Li Li what she needed to know" shot back Sulu, trying to remain calm. "Her purpose would be different than yours, or any others like you."

"You still didn't answer my question" said Jaina. "If you want our cooperation, it would be wise to tell us what, exactly, you want."

"That is none of your concern. SPEAR has maintained the necessary secrecy surrounding Functional Supernatural Phenomena as our predecessors have, without interference from either living FSPs or those who are not made aware of how much goes unexplained in this world."

" _Your_ world is about to get very cold" replied Jaina. "I hate resorting to violence, but your obstinance has forced my hand."

A blast of ice and snow coated the screen on the transmitting end, ending the communication.

Sulu used his terminal to send override codes to _Chancellor_ that should have disabled its shields, weapons, and navigation, slaving it to whoever transmitted them.

"Of course they locked it out" he muttered under his breath. "The password might be '12345' by now, but we don't have time for this!"

He'd met operatives like Bokat-Anne Vizsla who were entirely too enthralled with the notion that "ablation" always required "destruction." Sulu believed in using force, but only when appropriate and in measured amounts. He intended to exploit this "Jaina" having read about her as a character—without the destruction of "Theramore" weighing on her she would likely not condone shooting first. At the same time, he knew that a battle between two titans would rain debris down on the heads of uninvolved parties, only consoling himself that this was all Jaina Proudmoore's fault. Those obnoxious Heroes could have ended this by cooperating but instead they made a mess.

"Open fire" he ordered. "Aim for weapon systems and shields."


	43. Super Slugfest

**Chapter 43 – Super Slugfest**

Captain Sulu recalled gunships pursuing fleeing Heroes. He'd need all the firepower he could get. For whatever reason, the treasonous _Chancellor_ headed inland, so he set _Samurai_ to follow. His ship's larger, slower-firing, but more powerful guns made quite the lightshow against _Iron Chancellor_ 's plasma shields. Enough impacts would drain them, allowing secondary armament to pick the rest of the ship apart. The goal was disabling, not destroying if possible.

"Captain! Outsider craft on the scopes!"

They were called "F-22 Raptors" and were the most advanced warplanes available to those without Functional Supernatural Phenomena. Which, of course, wasn't saying much. Against that which might as well have been magic to them, their "stealth" was laughable—they were visible on scopes from many miles away. Their munitions weren't worth much either, however in a close fight between superships even a small amount of energy drained to stop an incoming AIM-120 AMRAAM could pose problems.

"Permission granted to down outsider craft. Do not, I repeat, do not attack ejecting personnel!"

Point defense plasma projectors easily burned through engines, control surfaces, and wings of the incoming fighters. One managed to loose a missile after seeing the other come apart, but the warhead detonated harmlessly against _Samurai_ 's shields.

Computers aboard _Chancellor_ broke encryption between the outsider planes and their base, leading the command crew to a full treatment of what transpired.

"Is that…is that a flying battleship?"

"Cut the chatter, Badger! Since these jokers have violated US airspace twice without any explanation, we're here to take them down, not record clips for YouTube!"

Suddenly, the pilot who'd told the other to cut it out yelped "Hit by some kind of….arrrgh!"

"Badger, Fox Two!"

"They're shooting down the craft sent to defend this land…" Jaina sounded both angry and disappointed. She'd kept secrets of her own, and without a doubt the Kirin Tor archives were not just open to anyone. However, this level of deception was too much, especially with no justification given.

"Which way to the forward deck?"

Slightly confused, a crewman gave her directions.

"It's only safe to be out there when our shields are up—blocks the wind and incoming enemy fire. Also, it's cold because we're sixty thousand feet in the air!" he yelled at Jaina's retreating back.

"The cold never bothered me anyway" she said as she swept out of the command center.

It had taken some convincing, but Sirella Martin was now fully on the "science" side of SPEAR.

"Engage to disable" she ordered.

Jaina stepped up onto the main deck. The ship's internal corridors were clearly not designed with mages in mind seeing as she'd nearly snapped her staff in two several times. She was starkly reminded of battleships from her own realm, though this vessel had far less visible wood in its construction.

About to move forward, a glow caught the sorceress' eye. An entire section of deck flashed red, and upon looking up the reason was obvious as huge plasma discharges flew out from tri-barreled barbettes.

"Interesting."

She continued on past a second group of three guns over which the first could fire (but did not since the ship was launching broadsides), guessing green meant safe/go.

Reaching _Iron Chancellor_ 's pointed bow, Jaina took up a position to cast frostbolts at the opposing vessel. Remembering that the faerie dragon Brightwing's polymorph worked against shielded power armor like that she "died" in, she fervently hoped the same would apply to her ice magic. Seeing ice form on the bow of her target, she cheered and pumped her fist. Jaina debated calling in a full-scale blizzard, but she reasoned to do so would be hypocritical if her goal was to avoid harming uninvolved parties since it seemed this "Anaheim" place didn't prepare for weather other than "75 and sunny."

She decided to aim snowstorms at two-barreled constructs that looked like larger version of guns from the ship she was on.

"Gun fire rate improved by 300%."

Great altitudes did even more wonders for plasma cannons than ocean depths, though there were diminishing returns. Sensors on _Samurai_ 's forwardmost turret indicated even higher rates of fire could be achieved, as temperature had inexplicably dropped further. Looking out over the bow, it became apparent why—a sudden very concentrated snowstorm, to the point of Saturday morning cartoon show comedy-size: a cloud poured ice and snow onto "A" barbette.

"Sir! Sensors detecting…the 0-10-4 on _Chancellor_ 's forward deck!"

Jaina poured a howling blizzard onto _Samurai_ 's first turret, not aware this was actually having the opposite of her intended affect. She jumped upon hearing gunship fire, it being louder and closer than the last time, until she saw blue flares between herself and her attackers: shields.

"We can't take much more of this!"

A blast from _Samurai_ tore into _Chancellor_ 's rear armor—shields there collapsed as energy was directed forward to protect Jaina Proudmoore out on the bow.

"If we drop, we'll do vastly more harm than good!" bellowed Engineering. "Assuming SPEAR was worried about the outsiders going nuclear, that's nothing compared to what happens if our reactor goes critical from overloads or impacts!"

Concentrating on flinging magical ice, Jaina found herself restrained by three soldiers.

"Miss, we need you to get back inside. Keeping this deck safe is requiring too much power to be drawn from…"

Another blast shook the ship from end to end.

They weren't going to tell her that, according to tactical telemetry, her attempts at help had been useful…to their enemy.


	44. It's Definitely Not a Bird

**Chapter 44 – It's Definitely Not a Bird**

Light began to fade as evening arrived. The Heroes stood to depart their temporary refuge, only to be blocked by crowds again. People were not, however, pointing at them, but rather pointing _up_. Apps on smartphones rapidly ruled out any transiting satellites or similar objects. No meteor showers were predicted either. By coincidence, the father who'd berated his son for interest in Sylvanas happened to be connected to a nearby astronomical observatory. Pointing its telescope toward the alleged phenomenon, a couple of photos delivered agonizingly slowly over the restaurant's Wi-Fi showed exactly what was going on above.

"So those glowing dots, they're _ships?_ " he yelled into his phone, unable to conceal his mounting confusion. "Has the world gone all 'Star Wars' without anyone noticing?"

"Well, there are a couple living characters from that 'World of Warcraft' my kids won't stop playing standing over there…" said another mom. "So yeah, I'd say the world has gone nuts."

"Wait a minute." The protesting father's son grabbed his phone. "Those look like… But they can't be!"

"Can't be what?" asked another man.

"My great-grandfather served in the US Navy" replied the teen. "He was there! At the Battle of Okinawa! I'd recognize that ship anywhere—except, it's supposed to be on the bottom of the ocean in two pieces."

An argument broke out, mostly among the adults, until Johanna banged her shield on the ground for order.

"That's impossible!" yelled a woman, determined to get in the last word. "Nobody just pulls sunken ships off the bottom of the ocean!"

"Ma'am, we just _were_ on the bottom of the ocean" shot back Raynor. "Everything around these parts has been making less 'n less sense since we all woke up in that crazy chest. So, as silly as it sounds, I say we take these scientists at their word."

"Okay, so now what?" That was the question of many there, even among those who had been arguing earlier.

Raynor (with occasional snide comments from Sylvanas) recounted their tale—jumping off a high-flying drone, respawning in the chest, being captured, using SPEAR's tech to make themselves normal-sized, blasting their way free of an underwater lab, and barely escaping in a freight craft as a resurrected, refitted World War II battleship took shots at them.

"Yeah, I didn't believe it either. And, they could be just yanking our chains—with all the tech they have who knows what the hell they could have built, then come up with a crazy cover story" he finished. "Though, why bother? Makes no sense to invent a tale like that…"

The conversation was again halted by a man bellowing "In case anyone forgot, that woman" (he pointed at Nova) "can disappear, and this one has totally weird eyes" (Valla). He continued "That one" (Sylvanas) "isn't even technically alive—but she talks just like the rest! So if anyone's going to say it's too nuts, _open your eyes and see the weird shit in front of you!_ "

"Let me guess" said Nova. "We really should be up there on one of the ships, not down here."

"What's that?" Pinch-zoom. "Anyone recognize this?"

The boy held up his dad's phone, showing a blurry purple hood and cape on the right-side ship's bow.

"Let's see if these walking tanks really can fly…"

Captain Martin pounded her fist uselessly on a table. Even when these were actually seagoing battleships, pitting _Bismarck_ against _Yamato_ would likely have only ended one way assuming neither ship could run nor call in reinforcements. That power disparity was even more exaggerated after SPEAR's upgrades.

Unlike _Samurai_ , with its stubby wings and extra engines, _Iron Chancellor_ 's propulsion remained inside the armored hull. While that meant its engines could not be shot away, no such protection existed for its unarmored barbettes—the two rearmost gun mounts were wrecked, their tri-barrel constructs pointing in directions more in common with potted plants than big plasma cannons.

"Captain… We have to run!" exhorted Engineering. "Structural integrity is failing—if we take another midships hit it may split us in half!"

Rear rail batteries tried to swat heavy gunships off the battleship's aft section, but were only marginally successful as four remained. That is, until one of them suddenly wagged its tail before spinning wildly. Martin and her command staff blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of a huge red _thing_ tearing at the gunship's back end. Whatever it was dropped as the assault craft lost thrust (having no engines tended to cause such things), but a suit that looked very much like J117 power armor caught it mid-fall.

Two more suits appeared, and it seemed they were _juggling_ something between them, tossing objects in some kind of pattern.

"I'm gettin' a bit dizzy!" yelled Raynor into his comm. "Are we there yet?"

"You are now." Malfurion, given a crash course by Valla, worked with Johanna in flying power armor to heave their charges onto the unshielded aft end of _Iron Chancellor_. The Heroes, mostly freezing from their upward trip, beat a hasty retreat inside the nearest hatch without even bothering to see what they'd been thrown onto.

Unable to fit through a normal door, Diablo had to settle for an open cargo hanger. It was still shielded, which allowed it to maintain livable temperatures.

Figuring anyone Jaina worked with would be on their side (or at least not hostile), Raynor grabbed a passing crewman.

"Which way to the bridge?"


	45. Boarding Action

**Chapter 45 – Boarding Action**

"Ordinarily, I'd have you all hauled off to the brig since you did just board my ship without permission" began Captain Martin. "To say that these circumstances are ordinary would be stretching the truth at best, even for us in the Strategic Prevention, Extraction, and Ablation Regiment."

 _Iron Chancellor_ shuddered as plasma blasts from _Steadfast Samurai_ impacted rear armor as shields sputtered.

"If this keeps up, we're going down and it won't be pretty. It seems George Sulu over there believes a huge mess is necessary rather than quiet containment."

Jaina scoffed. "Based on what I've seen, quiet containment was never the priority." She pounded her staff on the ground for emphasis before continuing. "Or, at least once we showed up at that 'BlizzCon' it wasn't. I have dealt with my fair share of warmongers—they all play the same game. Find an excuse to escalate, then use responses to that escalation as a reason to take things even further."

"The Weaponized Extraction Teams seem to have gotten what they wanted" conceded Martin. "A reason to lift the veil, but why?"

"Control" answered Raynor. "If there's no threat, they can't demand bigger budgets every year."

"Well, they got them anyway" answered Martin. "Advancements in outside world information technology are making Prevention, Extraction, and Ablation much harder than they used to be."

"Now it is impossible" added Valla with some level of glee. "They cannot cover this up."

A harsh alarm cut conversation to ribbons.

"Aft shields at sixteen percent!"

"I take it you already tried shooting them down" suggested Johanna, completely deadpan.

Nova opened her mouth to make a cutting remark before being overridden by Sylvanas.

"Of course not! They just turned tail, ran, and cowered. Like some people I know" she added. "They smashed their own rear weapons as a prank."

Aboard _Vulture_ transports, the Heroes had been split into two teams. "Fine, you can be Team Mako, we'll be Team Hammerhead" laughed Valla upon being joined by Jaina, Malfurion, Raynor, Kerrigan, and Sonya. Team Mako consisted of Nova, Diablo, Johanna, Sylvanas, Brightwing, and Gazlowe.

"One more than the usual" said Gazlowe, "but all the better for wreckin' stuff!"

Hammerhead would drop from above while Mako came up from underneath. Valla pouted upon being told she wouldn't get to use a grappling gun this time. Diablo set a good number of things on fire prior to leaving, giving the impression of far greater damage to _Iron Chancellor_ 's aft section as it "limped" away.

Just before the two boarding craft were to engage, an urgent message came through from Captain Martin. "Exploit protocol Safe Haven! It is standard procedure for command staff to relocate to another vessel if their ship becomes damaged lest they be otherwise captured by outside forces. My authorization code is Alpha-Alpha-3-0-5."

"Well, not getting shot at is nice" said Jaina upon their hassle-free docking.

"Things go south in 3, 2, 1…" muttered Raynor.

"Hey!" yelled a crewman sent to retrieve "Captain Martin." "You're not supposed to…"

He dropped, having been smacked upside the head by a spinning hammer.

"Bad luck for you, friend."

"This may be a silly question" said Jaina hesitantly. "But what, exactly, are we supposed to do now that we're here?"

"I give them thirty seconds before security is all over us" added Nova.

"We're going to kill them. All of them!" bellowed Valla. "Then, we're going to take this ship back to their headquarters, and blast it into ash! The whole world shall know their failure!"

Johanna could hear the bloodlust creeping into every word.

"Well, that's going a little far…" she offered.

"Now hold on a minute" interrupted Raynor. "She may be a little too obsessed with killing, but she's right—if we're going to do this properly we have to expose everything. Root out all the secrets!"


	46. To the Viewports, To the Bulkheads

**Chapter 46 – To the Viewports, To the Bulkheads**

Nova's guess on when security would arrive was off. She had been thirteen seconds too generous. However, two lightly-armed crew were easily overpowered and silenced.

"Now remember" said Raynor, "as much as this organization needs to have the lid blown off its cover, most of these people are probably regular types who are just here gettin' paid."

"They still deserve to die horribly" hissed Valla. "Every single one of them." Her foot made a nasty wet sound as she ground it into one of the downed guards.

"As I was saying" replied Raynor more loudly, "we also have to keep in mind if this ship falls out of the sky, it's gonna blow up and cause a lot of death and destruction."

"But we will fly away! Dying is not possible for us!" Brightwing, entirely too upbeat given the situation, though it was more the timbre of her voice than any intention of sounding happy.

"Everyone else won't" emphasized Johanna. "The difference between a hero and a villain is morality—and we should not take a quick and easy path that lets innocents suffer."

By now, dealing with the once-threatening J117 power armor suits became almost a boring routine. This time, it was a crab whose ashes were sprinkled all over the hanger floor. Upon seeing their heavy unit fall, even the toughest security troops scattered. The respite was short-lived, however, as new orders compelled fleeing personnel back into the fight. The two teams fought as one to blast their way out of the hanger in which they'd been confined.

Malfurion's ensnaring roots created perfect opportunities for headshots by an enraged Valla. Far from abating her hatred, each success heightened it. Her throaty roars caused even Diablo himself to pause, wondering what could possibly drive a being to such depths of pure malice.

"She does realize" said Raynor upon seeing Valla triple-tap yet another enemy in the head, "that her railgun doesn't seem to have the same endless ammo our guns do, right?"

Valla became quite aware of this after grabbing for another mag on her suit but coming up empty. Instead of being dissuaded, her features lit up even more. A feral grin adorned her lips as she stood before dashing about, using her mobility to dodge incoming fire. She used the stock of her sniper rifle to incapacitate a heavy trooper, and though this required several strikes her extreme speed meant all he could do was stare stupidly at the place she'd been as another vengeful blow struck his head. The last thing Anthony Rodriguez saw through blurred, red vision was his own combat shotgun pointed at his face, point-blank.

"Is anyone else gettin' a little creeped out by her?" asked Raynor.

"You want to say that to her face?" replied Nova sarcastically. "I'd like to avoid respawning today, thanks!"

Out of the hanger, the Heroes found their progress blocked not by guards but an extremely thick-looking door.

"BRIDGE ACCESS" traced out in big, bold letters above and on the floor.

"Huh" said Kerrigan. "Competent ship design. Put the bridge in the heart of the ship rather than in some obvious place it could be shot at or shot off."

Neither Sonya's fury nor Nova's shells could dent it. Diablo's great strength failed to move it, nor did his flames melt it.

A suited-up Captain Sulu stood behind two such doors—the one flummoxing the Heroes and another that led into the actual command center. So long as they didn't trash his ship, he actually didn't care much about them. They weren't compromising the secrecy of SPEAR the way the treasonous soon-to-be-ex-Captain Martin was.

Sylvanas vanished, leaving purple smoke behind.

"Again?" sighed Kerrigan. "That's the third time she's gone off and done something crazy…"

Nova had to be filled in on this, learning how Sylvanas was the first to jump from the QuadMaster, prior to her shenanigans with the _Manta_.

"She must have a real chip on her shoulder" replied Raynor.

"Some sins cannot be washed away even if forgiveness is earned" supplied Johanna. "Perhaps something in her past…"

"I've taken the liberty of filling this chamber with a mixture of sarin and chlorine. Enjoy these last few moments."

Sylvanas laughed. Loudly. The agents viewing her confinement couldn't understand why she thought her own impending doom to be funny.

"Unless she's the female version of the Joker" muttered one.

Cameras inside the command center showed something impossible, well, just as impossible as how a woman ended up in the containment chamber without opening either door—Sylvanas materialized in the bridge itself.

"Are you seeing this?"

"Of course I am" yelled Sulu to the operator of said containment chamber. "She's right in front of me! Flood the bridge!"

Sylvanas kept laughing, a high-pitched, echoing sound that chilled all who heard it. An arrow planted itself in the nearest ensign. Given that it wasn't expected to have intruders on the bridge, the only sidearm present appeared in the hands of Captain Sulu.

"Die!" he shouted, blasting Sylvanas with his pistol. "Die! Why won't you die?"

She rode a wave of banshees to his position, passing through several other crew who dropped the deck. Bullet holes produced no blood, and he swore they were starting to close up as she loomed over him.

"You see" she whispered. "I already died once. And that just pissed me off. Order your goons to clear this chamber of whatever poisons you summoned, or we shall see how you breathe in this mess you made!"

"And let an abomination like you run free?" he shot back.

"We are what you made us. Leave us alone, let us go, and this ends. You'll find a cornered scorpid to be quite nasty…"

"I have no idea what you are talking about" replied Sulu, steeling his resolve. "We have our orders! This world will burn with the revelation of things like you!"

Sylvanas offhandedly foiled an ambush with a banshee.

"That was a remarkably poor choice of words" simpered Sylvanas. "It's not nice to call people _things_."

"Then _what are you?_ " demanded Sulu, panic showing in his voice

"Behold!" roared Sylvanas. "Behold, the Queen of the Damned!"

The fog from several lethal inhalation agents began to fade.

"What are you doing?" demanded Sulu.

A video screen lit up, but it wasn't the operators he expected. The camera view adjusted to show a destroyed door and two terrified crew under the watch of Nova's sniper rifle.

"Change of plans" said Raynor. "We're commandeering this ship."

"You can't control anything other than the bridge entry and exit chambers from there." Sulu almost laughed at the stupidity of this tactic.

"No, but we can reroute air circulation…" Valla's smile sent shivers down Sulu's spine. He'd seen people like this before—the only way to win was to give them what they wanted, or kill them with assurances whatever plans they had could not be executed. It was why SPEAR worked so hard to contain Functional Supernatural Phenomena; power often fed the ego. Behind her, Raynor shook his head in disapproval. Jaina visibly retched. She let the threat hang.

"You'd kill my crew?" he asked. "What grievous sin have they committed?" Mockery crept into Sulu's voice.

"This organization is corrupt" replied Valla, her eyes burning red. "Even if you were familiar with Faustus Serum, I'd expect more thinly-veiled justifications and excuses as to why its use is acceptable."

"But the _heroes_ don't do things like that" he taunted.

"Maybe not" replied Jaina as the whole group stepped onto the now-clear bridge. "But _your_ organization hardly qualifies. If you treat people in ways that assume the worst, don't be surprised if that's exactly how they act."

"Roman Empire spiel in three, two one…" said Nova sarcastically.

Jaina didn't even let Sulu get going once the words left his mouth.

"You keep saying that" she interrupted, "but you won't tell us _why_. You expect us to just meekly subject ourselves to whatever containment you deem necessary in the name of worldwide stability, yet the horses left the stable a long time ago!"

"For bein' from an organization that likes to say they're so smart, you really just don't get it." Raynor almost sounded confused at this point. "Yes, we were just the figments of someone's imagination in your world, some science-fiction entertainment deal. If someone wanted to make me kill Sarah, they could have. If someone decided that the zerg were going to suddenly start serving tea, they could have. Problem is, we're not story characters anymore. Maybe what we remember as our lives didn't happen in this place, but we're still here. What would you do after being kidnapped, told you were a threat, and imprisoned? Think about that."

"Toss him out the nearest hatch, vent the ship, and be done!" shouted Valla, moving toward a control panel. "We still have a base to destroy."

"No."

Sylvanas blocked the deranged Demon Hunter, pushing her away.

"I've found the base" said Nova, operating a different computer. "Since Sulu was already logged in, I didn't even have to break any security." Valla gave her double stink-eye.

Malfurion summoned roots that entangled Captain Sulu and other crew, restraining them.

"Lemme guess. It's in orbit" guessed Raynor.

"Under a volcano!" added Johanna.

"At the top of a mountain" suggested Sonya.

"High in the pretty rainbow clouds!"

Brightwing, of course.


	47. Off to the Bases

**Chapter 47 – Off to the Bases**

"Sorry to bust your bubbles" said Nova, upon revealing where SPEAR's main base hid. "It does make sense, you have to admit that…"

Deep in the Australian outback, a buried facility with more area than some small nations held the vast majority of SPEAR's 0-10-4s, Functional Supernatural Phenomena, and data archives.

"Why do you think Australia was a penal colony?" asked Captain Sulu from the deck.

"The ship's main computer doesn't have coordinates for every facility" she explained. "Only those it interacts with. But all that information is in one place, once we get to Down Under."

Sulu and his crew resigned themselves to defeat, at least with regard to maintaining secrecy. As if to drive the point home, Nova pulled up video from BlizzCon in which the Heroes made it quite clear the fictional had become more real than anyone outside SPEAR thought possible—it had spread across the outsider internet faster than even the cutest kitten video.

"If anyone at this 'Down Under' place turns hostile, well, you heard Valla…" Raynor didn't elaborate. The Demon Hunter's eyes rolled back in ecstasy imagining the carnage that she would finally be able to visit upon her tormenters. Unfortunately for her, no such opportunity would present itself.

"Do we have an order?" blared an irate questioner as _Steadfast Samurai_ approached Australian coastline.

"Stand down" replied Sulu, deflated. "It's finished." He sighed. "We're finished."

"An order to what?" barked Kerrigan, even though it technically didn't matter.

"Shoot this ship down" replied Sulu, as if this were obvious. "When I didn't check in after a predetermined interval, it was automatically assumed I'd lost control of my ship and thus, my hardware might be used against the Weaponized Extraction Teams and SPEAR itself."

Upon docking, the Heroes found themselves ushered off the ship (Malfurion removed his roots) and into a large chamber.

"This is the group we call 'The Board.' They run the Strategic Prevention, Extraction, and Ablation Regiment, however given the current state of things, they are prepared, within reason, to defer to you."

The Heroes chose three representatives—Jaina, for her diplomacy; Raynor, for his uncanny instincts; and Johanna purely because others from her universe were ill-suited to the task at hand. It was agreed to conduct a phased-in series of announcements beginning with key world leaders and expanding to the general public after governments were given a chance to prepare for these revelations.

"We're not your soldiers" said Johanna emphatically. "We cannot even stem the violence in one of your cities, let alone bring peace to your world."

"The Jedi Order, we ain't" added Raynor.

"This can work" insisted Jaina. "If the Horde and Alliance are capable of living peacefully together, your society should be able to adjust to these developments if you have the will and wisdom to handle it."

"Somehow, I doubt that" whispered Nova. She pointed at several news articles on her tablet detailing some of the reaction to initial information releases.

"I know it don't look good" replied Raynor quietly as Jaina kept speaking, "but we fought for them to have this chance. We have no right to tell them how to use it."

"And so we weren't locked up" replied the Ghost.

"Not that you'd stay locked up for long…"

"Well, if that's what you like, then I guess I can hitch myself to something…"

Sarah Kerrigan glared daggers at both of them.

"You're no fun." Nova pouted. Raynor rolled his eyes. She was a telepath, she knew damn well what he meant, but persisted in being irksome anyway.

"In conclusion, if you require my assistance, don't hesitate to ask. As the most powerful human mage of my time, I have experience in handling relations between those with magic and those without."

Jaina stepped away from the podium, replaced by Jim Raynor. His topic would be more technological, as not _everything_ in SPEAR's vaults was classified as a 0-10-4/Functional Supernatural Phenomena.

Brightwing noticed several people dozing off, and thus tossed pixie dust at them. At Malfurion's request, she wafted among the assembled people, letting her soothing mist calm them as more and more fantastical-sounding information was presented.

"You're basically being given thousands of years' worth of advancement all at once. I'll skip the apologies and just jump straight to it—we're keeping the weapons. At least for now. Unless aliens invade, given the reaction we've seen these SPEAR people did have a point about not bein' ready for lots of the things they've been sitting on" said Raynor. He hated public speaking, and was glad to concede the floor to Johanna.

Her topics were the most controversial, in that they dealt with religion. Nova visibly tensed up once the Crusader began talking, ready to unleash stun rounds should anyone prove unruly.

"While unfortunate" remarked Jaina afterward viewing news reports on a large holo projector, "these protesters are not our responsibility to deal with. It saddens me that people so quickly resort to violence against things they do not understand, in ways that ultimately hurt the very communities they live in."

"It's a damn sight better than Koprulu" replied Raynor. "This is mild by comparison!"

"These humans lack the destructive capabilities you described" added Malfurion, "so it is logical to…"

"We know" interrupted Jaina. "But even Gazlowe, with his affinity for explosions, knows when to reign it in."

The goblin looked miffed at this comment.


	48. Reunion

**Chapter 48 – Reunion**

"Hey, guys!"

None of the Heroes had heard that high-pitched, over-excited voice in a long time. The one who liked to look at flowers during matches, yet somehow managed to keep everyone on their feet in the middle of a teamfight anyway.

"Well look at you." Raynor ruffled the fur on Li Li's head—she was still a good deal shorter than everyone else even at proper scale. "All official!"

Indeed, Li Li Stormstout wore a badge, uniform, and shockingly for her, actual shoes.

"Like I said, not everyone around here wants to pick a fight. They see me as less threatening, less, scary, you know? So I'm going to be an Advancement Ambassador!"

"I heard about that new program" said Jaina, as the Heroes sat down at a cafeteria table. "It's something I'd like to become more involved in, since sitting in tiny rooms trying to mediate people having circular arguments in which volume is confused for validity does get tiring after a while…"

Upon seeing Sylvanas, she unholstered the shadow dagger given to her what seemed like a lifetime ago. "Here ya go! They tell me the science types around here may have a way to fix your arm. They _definitely_ have a way to handle your, um, unique aroma."

For the first time anyone could recall, Sylvanas finally seemed at peace.

Li Li proceeded to explain between bites of fish cake what happened after all the Heroes went off "on an adventure." She'd been brought in by SPEAR again, but not the militaristic WET. She had been given even more information on SPEAR and its predecessors by then-rogue scientists (who mysteriously saw their recorded violation of protocols disappear recently), "in the hopes that once all the craziness shakes out, you can take this to the world."

"And what of the person indirectly responsible for all this?" asked Johanna.

"Well, nobody would give me the whole story" replied Li Li. "Seems like SPEAR is kind of embarrassed about it, especially since the original order was termination."

"That's not very nice" pouted Brightwing who alternated between hovering nearby and using her long tongue to snatch food from passing plates. She ignored the nearby buffet.

"In our language, I think the best way to describe it would be 'AFK'" explained Li Li. "Suppressed memories, given six months to a year to just live without any of this pressure. Could come back, see us, be involved in SPEAR after that."

Brightwing's over-enthusiastic swiping of food finally caught up with her as a large stolen turkey leg hit her in the face instead of being eaten in one bite.

Li Li stopped, before adding. "Also? If anyone has any ideas for a better name, they're looking to project a different image now…"

 _Fin_.


End file.
